Cesare Lombroso Museum of Criminal Anthropology Museum

Address: Museo di Antropologia Criminale “Cesare Lombroso”, Turin (Torino), Piedmont, Italy

The Cesare Lombroso Museum of Criminal Anthropology in Turin is a university museum founded around the work of criminologist Cesare Lombroso in the late 19th century. The museum preserves material used in early anthropological and criminological studies.

Exhibits include plaster casts, masks, anthropometric instruments, skeletal material and archival documents that illustrate historical attempts to study criminality through physical measurements. The collection is often cited in discussions of the origins and ethics of forensic and anthropological science.

Established from Lombroso’s personal research collections and institutional holdings at the University of Turin, the museum documents the development of criminal anthropology from the 19th century onward. Interpretive work has been added over time to contextualize the scientific and social history of the field.

Situated in Turin in Italy’s Piedmont region, the museum is part of the university’s museum network and is accessible from central Turin by public transport.

• Collections note: Contains plaster casts, death masks, skulls and documentation assembled by Cesare Lombroso and later curators, reflecting 19th‑century criminal anthropology practices.

• Check the museum's opening hours and whether guided visits or limited-entry rules apply before you go - the collection is compact and often visited by small groups.
• Allow time to read the context panels: many visitors focus on the sensational exhibits and miss the historical explanations about Lombroso's influence on criminology and its controversies.
• Visit on a weekday to avoid student-group peak times, and combine the stop with other University of Turin museums in the same area to get more out of a short trip.