Stazione zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples

The Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn is a biological research institute with a public aquarium, set within Naples’ Villa Comunale. Its work ranges across evolution, oceanography, marine botany, ecology, and several branches of cellular and molecular biology. The station began in 1872 through the initiative of the German zoologist Anton Dohrn, who wanted researchers from different countries to share laboratories, equipment, specimens, and a library.

The public aquarium was built under the direction of William Alford Lloyd and opened on the 26th of January 1874; it remains the oldest aquarium in Italy. Look at the aquarium’s sturdy architectural forms as you walk past: this was not simply an attraction added to a research building. Income from visitors helped support the scientific work, alongside revenue from journals, specimens, and rented research benches.

By the time Dohrn died in 1909, more than 2,200 scientists from Europe and the United States had worked here. The institute became a national research body in 1982, while its investigations continue to connect marine life with biology at many scales.