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This publication is the catalogue of the rich hummingbird collection set up by Pietro Franchetti (1878–1964) over the course of more than 30 years during the first half of the 20th century. Franchetti graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Turin University in 1915, and subsequently taught chemistry at various schools. Simultaneously, he started to set up his private natural history museum, the major part of which was the hummingbird collection. Hummingbird specimens were mainly collected by exchanges with other museums or scientific institutions, by purchase at the main European markets (Paris and London), and through the help of missionaries that Franchetti personally and carefully instructed. The collection is composed of 1086 specimens belonging to 226 species and 94 genera, most of them in excellent condition, and is currently housed in the San Giuseppe College of Turin. The Franchetti collection is a good example of how amateurs and private collections can contribute valuable data to the scientific community. In 1948, the collection was defined as one of the major hummingbird collections in the world, comparable to the ones in the museums of London, Paris and New York. Such high value was due not only to the large number of specimens, but also to the scientific rigour with which it was organized. For example, most of the specimens are mounted on pedestals in positions that allow specific plumage characteristics to be readily visualized (e.g. tail opened fanwise), thus facilitating species identification. This makes the collection a valuable training tool for both amateur birdwatchers and professional scientists. Despite its remarkable reputation, the Franchetti collection passed long unnoticed, even among researchers who concentrated their studies on the Family Trochilidae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]