The hamlet of Bolca, on the eastern edge of the Lessinia plateau, sits on top of one of the most important palaeontological sites in the world. Around fifty million years ago, an Eocene lagoon was repeatedly poisoned by volcanic gas; the dead fish sank into anoxic mud and were preserved in extraordinary detail. The Pesciara di Bolca quarry has yielded more than 250 fish species, plus crocodiles, turtles, insects, and plants — many with skin, scales, and stomach contents still visible.
The Museo dei Fossili in the village displays hundreds of slabs in well-lit galleries, with helpful context for non-specialists. From the museum a short signed walk leads up to the Pesciara itself, where guided tours descend into the working quarry and show you fossils being split out of the rock. Bolca is a thirty-minute drive east from the central plateau and worth a half day on its own.