The Sanco mineralogy collection comprises more than 400 mineral samples of varying dimensions and provenance.
Giuseppe (Bepi) Sanco was among the founding partners of the Gruppo Mineralogico Euganeo (Euganean Mineralogy Group).
A great enthusiast, connoisseur and collector of minerals, he visited a variety of mineralogical sites, of which his favourites were Trepça in present day Kosovo and Baia Mare in the Maramures region of Romania.
Among the minerals from the lead-zinc deposits of these areas, worthy of mention are samples of sphalerite and dolomite, also of pyrrhotite and pyrite, and of chalcopyrite, galena and quartz.
A specimen of singular importance — aesthetically, historically and regionally — is the amethyst quartz geode from the Calton Quarry on the Euganean Hills.
Also displaying superior aesthetic qualities are samples of beryl (aquamarine variety) from Brazil, a Canadian apatite and a sizeable piece of green fluorite from China.
Specimens sourced from historic Italian mineralogical sites include a demantoid of the Val Malenco (Lombardy), exceptional for the quality of the individual crystals, and black tourmalines of the Val di Vizze (Alto Adige).
