In the “House of Butterflies” one can find very pretty exotic gardens where every day more than 400 out of the most beautiful butterflies in the world court each other, feed from the flowers and reproduce. There are three gardens with tropical butterflies: Amazonian or neotropical, Afro-tropical and Indo-australian. This feature guarantees the originality of the House in comparison with other initiatives presently activated worldwide, which do not separate butterflies on the basis of their origin. In the “House of Butterflies” one can observe all the stages involved in the development of butterflies: egg, caterpillar, chrysalid and butterfly. The differences between diurnal butterflies and nocturnal butterflies ("moths") are clearly visible. The visitor can learn and directly meet some out of the most significant living examples of aposematic protective colors and tricks adopted for survival, such as the Batesian, Mullerian and cryptic mimicry. To observe ex vivo means: to see the behaviour of butterflies and to carry out studies in the field of ethology. In this connection, the most frequently studied butterflies are represented by Neotropical heliconidae, that have developed a complex social behaviour and spend part of the day to share and explore the surrounding environment, while they come together to the same place in the evening to sleep together after organizing themselves in a cluster. It has been demonstrated that some out of these butterfies can recognize the environment, run over again some pathways which connect the nocturnal couch, the flowers and the sites of evening aggregation. The world of the house of butterflies certainly is very broad, however also other additional species deserve to be particularly mentioned.
In particular, the Idea butterflies, large and graceful white and black butterflies, which display the lightest known mode of flying. The large and gandy Amazonian Morpho butterflies with their iridescent blue colours. The papilios coming from all over the world that include some intensely coloured and caudate species, as well as species known for the characteristic presence of females differing in shape and colours. The fantastic and mythical Ornithoperae, the largest butterflies worldwide, showing incredible colours, all of which are protected by the international agreements concerning wild fauna. All the butterflies are inserted and live comfortably in an environment which has been specifically developed for them. This is not a traditional garden. Our sense of beauty does not obtain for butterflies; even though the house of butterflies includes vegetable species which attract due attention and possesses natural corners rivalling with those of the most beautiful botanical gardens, butterflies prefer spaces and environments which are useful for their life. As a consequence, one can find plants with leaves partially eaten by caterpillars, or showing typical indications of parasitic attacks. This is not common in botanical gardens where those antiparasite treatments are performed that are not allowed in the house of butterflies. In the house only systems based on natural biological control are used and each plant is allowed to adopt its own spaces and development strategies in comparison with other nearby plants. Many plants are selected since they are known to produce flowers which are adequate for butterflies, to provide a suitable trestle for the night, as well as for their territorial and nuptial behaviours. Additionally, they simply modulate the environment as regards the levels of light, shade and humidity. Even the ground, which is occasionally free from vegetation, becomes a very important factor for the survival of butterflies, that can directly find mineral salts essential for their life.