The Museum of Natural History of the Mediterranean is located in Livorno, a short distance from the Giovanni Fattori Civic Museum. It is housed in the historic Villa Henderson. The origins of the museum date back to 1929 with the acquisition of the rich material present in the cabinet of the Vespucci Technical Institute; after the Second World War, which caused the loss of the collection, the museum was reopened at the Diacinto Cestoni Municipal Aquarium and in 1980 it was moved to the Villa Henderson headquarters. The villa belonged to Antonio Orlandi in 1762 and subsequently passed to the Filippi, Guebhard and then to the Webb James. In 1917, after being owned by the Bracchini family, it became the property of George Henderson, whose family had belonged to the British community of the city since the late 18th century. After his death in 1934, the building, which at the time consisted of thirty rooms and a large park, passed to the provincial administration of Livorno. The garden still partially retains the typical "English" layout, born in the late eighteenth century. Remarkable are the varieties of tree species present that with a hexagonal fountain and a small stone cave with three small arches, covered with spontaneous vegetation, enrich the environment dominated at the entrance by a centuries-old pine. The exhibition areas, renovated and built from scratch in the 1980s by the architect Giuseppe Milanesi, are located in the modern building adjacent to the villa. Subsequently, other expansion works led to the creation of the Sala del Mare dedicated to Mediterranean cetaceans, the result of years of recovery and study of specimens stranded on the Livorno coasts. The exhibition is completed by the Invertebrates Room, located in the annexes along the perimeter of via dell'Ambrogiana, the Botanical Garden and the Temporary Exhibition Room accessible at the rear of the villa.