A herd of fossil dinosaurs was discovered for the first time in Italy

For the first time in Italy, fossils of 11 dinosaurs have been unearthed, including the largest and most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in the 'boot-shaped country'.

Dinosaur remains have been discovered in Italy since the 1990s, and now paleontologists have identified a whole herd at Villaggio del Pescatore, a limestone quarry near the port city of Trieste in northeastern Italy.

'Bruno', the largest skeleton of dinosaur fossils discovered.

'Italy was never known for dinosaurs, and although we've gotten lucky a few times before, we've now found a large herd in the same place,' said University of California professor Federico Fanti Bologna and lead researcher said:

Villaggio del Pescatore first knew about dinosaurs in 1996, after Antonio - a dinosaur skeleton was discovered by paleontologists. Antonio was initially considered a 'dwarf', but thanks to the latest discoveries, they concluded that it was a baby dinosaur in the herd. Of the 11 members of the dinosaur herd, the largest fossil has been named Bruno.

'Bruno is the largest and oldest of the herd, and the most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in Italy,' Professor Fanti said. 'We knew there were dinosaurs at the site after Antonio was found, but no one had checked before to see how many there were.

Fossil remains of fish, crocodiles, flying reptiles and even small shrimp have also been found in this area, which 80 million years ago was part of the ancient Mediterranean region.

'This is amazing, because we can find environmental problems while the dinosaurs were alive and also when they died,' added the professor. 'During that period, the area was located very close to the coast in a tropical, warm and humid environment, allowing many dinosaur herds to forage.

Some of the fossils found at the Villaggio del Pescatore are on display at the civil natural history museum in Trieste, and experts hope one day the excavation site will be open to the public.