Il Cielo a Terra - Traveling exhibition on meteorite sites in Piedmont and Aosta Valley

A shower of stars fallen on Vercelli soil

There is an ancient and surprising bond between the small town of Motta de' Conti, in the plains of the Province of Vercelli, and deep space. It is this bond that inspires Il Cielo a Terra, the first traveling exhibition entirely dedicated to the meteorite sites of Piedmont and the Aosta Valley. After its first stops in the region, the exhibition arrives in the very town that gives its name to one of the most famous meteorites in our territory, hosted in the municipal spaces of Motta de' Conti from June 26 to 28, 2026.

What the exhibition tells

The exhibition path reconstructs the history behind the findings of six Italian meteorites, lining up science, memory, and local chronicles. Visitors will encounter archival materials, casts perfectly faithful to the originals, and manipulable reproductions, designed to be held and observed up close. It is a concrete way to understand what it really means to collect a fragment of the sky that fell among the fields: from the moment of sighting to scientific classification, up to preservation in museums.

The Motta de' Conti meteorite

The symbolic heart of the stop is the fall that occurred on February 29, 1868: the inhabitants of the countryside around Casale heard two loud booms coming from the north-north-east, and shortly after, several fragments were recovered in the territories of Villanova and Motta de' Conti. The main mass, weighing over six kilos, was found by a boy and ended up, through an almost novel-like story, in the collections of the University of Turin. Today, it is considered the most important and significant specimen in the entire collection of the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin, classified as an H-group ordinary chondrite.

Who organizes it

The exhibition is a project of the INAF PRISMA Network (the First Italian Network for the Systematic Surveillance of Meteors and Atmosphere), supported by the Fondazione CRT and created in collaboration with the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin. It is a high-level educational opportunity that brings a scientific heritage usually confined to large museum institutions to a small town in the Vercelli area.

An itinerary between Piedmont and Aosta Valley

The Motta de' Conti stop is one of the stops on a wider journey that, during 2026, touches various locations between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, from Torre Pellice to the Terme di Valdieri, passing through festivals and exhibitions dedicated to minerals and meteors. For those who love astronomy, science, and local history, it is an appointment not to be missed, right in the place where, more than 150 years ago, the sky truly fell to earth.