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The model faithfully reproduces the scientific characteristics and will be permanently displayed next to the entrance to the Museum 

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Milan, July 22 2021 – After 200 million years, the first and only Lombard dinosaur lives again in an astonishing sculpture and is destined to become a representative icon of the Museum and the collections it preserves and exhibits. A vigilant and non-aggressive pose, a natural step in the greenery of a flowerbed. At the side of the staircase overlooking Corso Venezia, the dinosaur also represents a reminder to visit the rich naturalistic collections of the Natural History Museum of Milan, which is the oldest civic museum and the largest of its kind in Italy. 

The dinosaur in question is an adult Saltriovenator, whose fossil was discovered 25 years ago by Angelo Zanella in a quarry in the province of Varese: few but significant bones, which indicated a new species for science. In fact, the first Lombard dinosaur turned out to also be the largest carnivorous dinosaur of the Lower Jurassic and the oldest representative of the Ceratosaur group in the world. 

Given the importance of this discovery, in 2018 the prestigious international scientific journal PeerJ published a scientific article describing in detail “Saltriovenator zanellai”. In its shapes, proportions and details, the model installed in the Montanelli Gardens is of museum quality as it faithfully reproduces the anatomical characteristics described by paleontologists in the article (https://peerj.com/articles/5976/). 

"This beautiful initiative - recalls Filippo Del Corno, Councilor for Culture - is actually the result of the research work of our scientific and museum institutes, in particular of our paleontologists who collaborated in the creation of the model so that it was as responsive as possible to the scientific results"  

Promoted by the Municipality of Milan-Culture and the Natural History Museum, the creation of the Saltriovenator is the work of Geo-Model, but it is the result of long work followed step by step by Cristiano Dal Sasso and Simone Maganuco, paleontologists at the Museum. It all started on the computer with a 3D digital modeling (work of the paleoartist Davide Bonadonna), then transformed into a life-size physical object: a sophisticated numerically controlled robot (Bat-Tech Italia) sculpted a polystyrene maquette. This was then covered in plasticine and hand-sculpted in all the details of the skin by five model makers (Alessandro Ambrosini, Denise Boccacci, Andrea Leanza, Andrea Masi and Francesca Penzo), under the scrupulous artistic direction of Scaggiante.  

From the casts of this sculpture, made by the staff with the help of Maurizio Ceolin, the fiberglass positives were obtained, which were assembled on an iron base with Corten finish using internal steel support joints (always by of Bat-Tech Italia). 

Footprints identical to those found fossilized near Rovereto were imprinted on the base, which have been attributed to dinosaurs similar to Saltriovenator, which lived in the same geological period: the beginning of the Jurassic. The coloring on the skin was done scale by scale, again by hand, by Alessandro Ambrosini. The eyes were custom made.  

The model numbers

The model, made of high-resistance fibreglass, represents a Saltriovenator 750 cm long, with a height of 220 cm at the pelvis and a tail of 340 cm, while the head measures 80 cm.  
It took almost 9 months from the first sketch to the finishing of the last detail: an undertaking in which 15 people including paleontologists, illustrators, modellers, sculptors, decorators, artisans, workers, engineers, graphic designers and operators participated. 

For the Saltriovenator the following were used: 

• 8 cubic meters of polystyrene 
• 150 kg of plasticine
• 20 kg of silicone for moulds
• 500 kg of polyester resin
• 100kg of fibreglass
• 5 kg of paints in various colors
• 500 kg of iron

For the technological part the following were used: 

• hardware and software for 3D modeling of the dinosaur and the design of its base
• 3D printer to produce small-scale prototypes (models).
• numerically controlled robot for milling polystyrene volumes on a 1 to 1 scale
• laser for sheet metal cutting and caption engraving

The sculpture assembled with the base and the caption band weighs almost 2 tons. 

The QR code positioned along the fence allows access to texts and multimedia contents that explain the "behind the scenes" of the creation.