On May 8, 1846, at 9.15 in the morning, a meteorite fell near Tolentino, a small town in the province of Macerata (Marche). It was the famous mineralist Giovanni Strüver, who was later called by Quintino Sella to direct the Museum of Mineralogy in Rome, who discovered this important Italian meteorite. The main mass was subsequently purchased, in 1846, and used for the description, by Monsignor Lavinio de 'Medici Spada. Having studied this meteorite, later called Monte Milone in honor of the place where it was found (a small town of six thousand inhabitants now called Pollenza), was a source of pride in the life of this great man of letters and humanists. The meteorite of Monte Milone, weighing 2044 grams, represents one of the most sensational specimens of the collection of minerals that Spada managed to put together and which, purchased in 1852 by the papal government for the University of Rome, still forms an important nucleus today. of this Mineralogy Museum.

Monte Milone is an ordinary L5-type chondrite and its estimated total mass is about 3 Kg; for this reason, the specimen illustrated in the photo weighing over 2 kg, on permanent display at the Museum of Mineralogy, represents the main mass of one of the most important meteorites that have fallen in Italy. To historical and scientific importance, this sample combines an aesthetic beauty given by the perfect state of conservation and the clear melting crust that testifies to the passage of this meteorite in the earth's atmosphere.