Palazzo Cavalli was built by the Foscari family between the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It was purchased around the mid-17th century from the local superintendent Marin Cavalli, who totally renovated and commissioned the frescoes which now enrich it. In 1760, Palazzo Cavalli was inherited by the Bollani family. Under Austrian rule, it first became military quarters (1818-1836), was then bought by the State in 1840, and subsequently used as a customs house, from that year until 1890.
At the very end of the 19th century, the palazzo was donated to the Royal University which, upon the suggestion of the architect Pio Chicchi, transformed it and destined it to be part of the space required by students from the Faculty of Engineering. It was used in this way until 1932, when the museum of Geology and Paleontology was transferred here from Palazzo del Bo. In the future also the collections of the Antropology museum and of Zoology museum will be moved here.
The entrance hall and the main salon create the so-called portego da basso (lower hall), corresponding to the main floor above, the portego de sora (upper hall). The ground floor has three other rooms, called respectively the ‘Room of the Fireplace’, ‘Room of the Hunt’ and ‘Room of the Telamoni’ (‘giants’).
The museum of Geology and Paleontology houses tens of thousands of fossil plants, invertebrates and vertebrates and rock samples. Most of them are coming from sites in Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino Alto Adige regions.