The collection constitutes the first step towards the creation of the museum’s concentration of Natural History materials. It was gathered between 1881 and 1925 by the Florentine doctor Adolfo Lensi who had retired to his property in Tricolle near Ponte a Cappiano. He held an important role as correspondent of the first Italian ornithological mission, to which he contributed with a census of the species present in the Fucecchio Marshes, their appearance and their habits.
The two paleontological collections donated by Adriano Lotti and Andrea Vanni Desideri were later added to this body of artifacts, a selection of which is exhibited in room 1, dedicated to the physical evolution of the territory.