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This volume presents the recovery, cataloging, and valorization project of the collection donated by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (1741-1790) to the Mineralogical Cabinet of the Collegio Nazareno in Rome in 1785. This donation represents, so far, the only geo-mineralogical collection belonging to Joseph II with certainty. The specimen cataloging records, drawn according to the ICCD national catalographic standards for the mineralogical (BNM) and petrographic (BNPE) heritage, are freely available on the Catalogo Generale dei Beni Culturali website. The collection is open to visitors in its permanent exhibition at the Istituto San Giuseppe Calasanzio in Rome. This volume has been realized within the project PANN20.00605 “Dono imperiale. La collezione mineralogica dell’Imperatore Giuseppe II al Collegio Nazareno di Roma” thanks to the financial support of the Italian Ministry of University and Research, Annual Grant – Legge 6/2000 – D.D. 1524 of 21/01/2019.

This work is the critical edition of the catalog of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold’s II mineralogical collection. The volume, unpublished and preserved at the Historical Archives of the University of Firenze Museum System, dates to 1765 and describes 242 mineralogical specimens coming primarily from the current Slovak-Hungarian mining district. This edition gives the transcription of the German manuscript and its translation into English together with an organized system of notation to illustrate the complex history of the text, the characterization of the mineralogical species, and the geographical location of the mineral extraction sites. This work represents to date the only published catalog of a mineralogical collection belonging to a member of the Habsburg-Lorraine family.

The Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence, founded in 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo d'Asburgo Lorena, is one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific museums in the world. The fourth volume on the Collections of the Mineralogy and Lithology Section, published like the previous volumes by the Firenze University Press, fits perfectly in the series dedicated to the collections of the University's Museum System. The first part of the book describes in great detail the paths that led to the formation of the collections, starting with those dating to the Medici period and arriving at the specimens collected during recent expeditions. The second part illustrates and documents the extraordinary specimens of minerals, hardstone carvings and meteorites which represent the material patrimony of this section. Particular attention is given to the holotypes, the Elban Collection and the minerals of pegmatites, as well as the methods and solutions adopted to realize the project of the new museum exhibition set-up. The third and last part describes the studies carried out on the materials: from the minerals of the systematic collections to the rock specimens that recount not only the geodiversity of a region but also the history of a city.