The Genoa Science Festival is... A fixed point of reference for science dissemination A great opportunity to meet for researchers, science enthusiasts, schools and families One of the major international scientific events. An event for everybody Meetings, workshops, shows and conferences to tell science in a new, engaging way, crossing over traditional subject boundaries. 11 days during which the classical barriers between mathematic, natural and human science fall down to take an intedisciplinary approach, explore and investigate science with no limits. A new paradigm Every year the Genoa Science Festival takes inspiration from the latest and most burning issues of the day, offering a multifaceted scientific debates, absolute previews, shows and exhibitions crossing over and exploring the connections between Art & Science, paying special attention to the latest research findings, as well as to what’s new in emerging countries. A global event Intimately tied to the city of Genoa and to the region of Liguria, the Science Festival also features a high international level. Panel discussions and face-to-face meetings with Italian and foreign top experts make every year a unique event fully dedicated to science, establishing longlasting partnerships and networking with prominent personalities and institutions from all over the world.

2. We talk about
science
in an unconventional
and engaging way

4. The Science Festival is a reference point for the divulgation of science. It is an opportunity to meet
researchers, enthusiasts, schools and families. It is one of the biggest events of the scientific
environment at an international level.
Since 2003, the year of its foundation, it has launched a new way of talking about science, placing
research and scientists at the centre of an open and free academic approach and by making known the
wonder of science to millions of non-experts.
Every year the Science Festival aims to break down the barriers between hard and soft sciences, so that
the research can be touched, seen and understood without any limits.
Thanks to its diversified programme composed by more than 300 events including meetings, workshops,
exhibitions and shows, it can satisfy a very wide audience.
A true celebration of science in which everyone, guests and audience, feel at their ease and part of a
single big community.
Science Festival

5. A festival for everyone, but most importantly a festival made up of young people and dedicated to young
people. After a careful training over 500 young people every year, mainly university students, become
mediators, guides and promoters of the festival, welcoming and mentoring the public with competence and
enthusiasm.
Young people who welcome other young and very young people: more than 200,000 visits from children
and young people who, together with teachers and parents, have the opportunity to approach science and
innovation issues with complementary modalities to the school ones.
An event with an intrinsic international character, with hundreds of foreign guests that participate with
enthusiasm, but also closely connected to Genoa and the Liguria region. The city opens the doors of its
historic buildings, museums, art venues and offers its own squares and streets for meetings and shows.
Genoa comes alive with different opportunities of discovery, knowledge and enhancement and the families
renew the tradition of hospitality of the Genoese Rolli by organizing dinners in which Festival guests take
part.
Thanks to the support of its many institutional partners, both public and private, the Science Festival is a
system that, from year to year, evolves and renews itself. Over the years, it has become a fixed appointment
in the calendar of the major national and European cultural events, arousing the growing interest of
local and national media.

6. 17
Editions
5.687
Events
Exhibitions, workshops, conferences,
shows and special events
5.666
Guests and
speakers
8.678
Explainers
Scientific explainers and greeters
supported by students involved in work-
related learning experiences
3.287.000
Visits to
events
57%
School public
Numbers
from 2003 to 2019

8. 2003: Beyond 2004: Exploration 2005: Frontiers
2006: Discover 2007: Curiosity 2008: Diversity
2009: Future 2010: Horizons 2011: 150 & beyond
Past editions

9. Past editions
2012: Imagination 2013: Beauty 2014: Time
2015: Balance 2016: Signs 2017: Contacts
2018: Changes 2019: Elements

10. Target and
Stakeholders
General audience
Events for every age, gender, social and
cultural background, for enthusiasts or for
those who approach science for the first time
School public
Target of choice of the Festival, the
uninformal teaching is the key for the
success of our events
Families
The Festival is an occasion to
share a didactic activity and
discovering Genoa
Insiders
An occasion of meeting for organizers
of divulgation events, entities,
institutions, international networks
operating in the sector
Enterprises
A place where important national and
international productive realities can
find new forms of dialogue with their
target audience
Scientists and researchers
An opportunity for those who are
interested in learning new methods to
communicate science

11. Top scientists, young researchers,
passionate and curious in a unique “space”
to meet the excellence of the world of
science and open up to the new frontiers
of research.
Interactivity and a hands-on approach to
address to everyone without any prejudice
to the discovery of the world of science.
Multidisciplinary and transversal offer,
designed for an audience of any age.
A festival that involves the whole city:
institutional venues, museums, streets,
squares, shops and private houses.
Explainers: university students, trained and
remunerated, that guide the audience of
any age in an informal and engaging way.
Call for proposal: every year a “Call”
renews the Festival programme involving
the national and international scientific
community.
Events designed together with companies
that want to show the audience their
technological excellence.
The key to the success Networking
A moment of encounter among the protagonists
of the international scientific community, research
institutions and representatives of institutions and
enterprises.
Approval
A cultural event to communicate the role of science in
the civil society.
Versatility
The science within everybody’s reach, talking to each
with the most suitable language.
Leadership
Pioneering event in Italy and abroad.
Think tank
Format designed to welcome and enhance new ideas.
Orientation
An experience that helps to grow a new generation of
scientists.
Technology transfer
Innovation and research by and for enterprises.
Internationalization
Melting pot of cultures, disciplines, nations and
different languages.

12. Workshops
Festival programme
Top
scientists
Meetings
ExhibitionsShows and
performances

13. Meetings
Events for the public to meet renowned
international scientists, researchers,
exponents of the cultural world in a
multidisciplinary schedule made up by
more than 150 conferences.
Educational workshops
Active involvement characterizes
empirical and interactive events: thanks
to group dynamics, they create the
conditions to learn by doing.
Exhibitions
Interactive exhibitions, exhibits and
multimedia installations set to discover
and deepen scientific and technological
issues with the expert guidance of the
scientific explainers.
Shows and performances
Theatrical performances, shows,
presentations to illustrate the science
with unconventional languages:
from acting to music, from sports
performances to cooking shows.
Top Scientists
Margherita Hack, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Jayant
Vishnu Narlikar, Lisa Randall, Jane Goodall, Luigi
Luca Cavalli Sforza, Ilaria Capua, Martin Chalfie,
Freeman Dyson, Roberto Burioni, Samantha
Cristoforetti are just a few of the scientists who
over the years have enchanted the Science Festival
audience.
“In 2005 I was asked to speak at the Genoa Science Festival (...) and
the atmosphere in the city was extraordinary - the enthusiasm at
conferences and in the streets was palpable”
Brian Greene
“The Science Festival is really impressive. I can’t think of nothing
better”
Simon Gage
“I was recommended to come! I have never seen anything like this!
A city totally involved in science!”
Freeman Dyson
“Just as in Genoa... how I would like the world to see Science: as
an integrating part of the culture, accessible to anyone who is
interested”
Lisa Randall
“It’s the most beautiful science festival in the world”
Marc Abrahams and John Cacioppo AAAS Meeting Chicago
“Visiting the Festival and Genoa has been unforgettable to me, a
real pleasure. It’s an event that truly promotes the science that is so
fascinating to us”
Michael Berry

14. The Science Festival offers opportunities to discover, taste,
try the science hidden in daily routines through events set
up in unexpected locations and formats repeating every
edition.
Tastes of science
Workshops, meetings, tastings and cooking shows to tell
the science of food, from the invisible components to the
final products, not forgetting preparation methods, food
education, sustainability and quality.
Sport and science
Physics of movement, chemistry of materials, biochemistry,
body physiology and new technologies for sport. Many
different opportunities to discover the importance of
physical activity with outstanding testimonials.
Street science
The squares and streets of Genoa become places of science.
Workshops, installations and special events for a real
“scientific walk.”
Guest country
Science has no boundaries and does not
approve fences. The Festival proves this
realizing every year the Guest Country
project. The choice is left to the Festival
Scientific Council.
The initiative, a collaborative effort
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Collaboration and
the guest Country’s embassy in Italy,
aims to involve institutions, centres
of research, university and science
museum to compose a rich programme
made up of meetings with scientists and
researchers working in the host country,
accompanied by a prestigious exhibition
space where exhibition projects and
workshops are concentrated.
An extraordinary in-depth study of
current scientific issues, bilateral
collaborations but also curious and
little-known cultural aspects. Over the
years, we have hosted:
2008 People’s Republic of China
2009 Egypt
2010 Mediterranean countries
2011 United States of America
2012 European Union
2013 Republic of Korea
2014 France
2015 UN - Organisation of
United Nations
2017 Japan
2018 Israel
2019 Netherlands

15. from
oct 22
to
nov 1
Keyword
Waves
Guest Country
United Kingdom
2020 Edition

16. Celebrations
International Year of Plant Health (UN)
International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife
(WHO)
International Year of Sound
70 years since the birth of Community Europe
Other anniversaries
500 years after Raphael’s death
250 years since Beethoven’s birth
150 years since Charles Dickens’ death
100 years since the birth of Gianni Rodari
100 years since the birth of Federico Fellini
100 years since the birth of Isaac Asimov
70 years after George Orwell’s death
Important events
COP26 - Glasgow
XXXII edition of the Olympic Games
XVI European Football Championship
Waves
We live in a universe of waves.
Electromagnetic waves, shock waves, gravitational
waves, sound waves, brain waves. Waves allow us to
study not only the planet, the sun, the universe, but
also the climate and life in all its forms. We use them
to heal ourselves or to play Mozart. Waves shake our
lives up during earthquakes, they allow us to see visible
and invisible, to perceive sounds, colours, emotions.
They lead us into the world of quantum mechanics,
from the infinitely small to universal gravitation. Waves
are energy, in limitless forms and manifestations.
United Kingdom
The Guest Country of the Festival will be the United
Kingdom, homeland of scientists who have developed
theories and achieved milestones in the history
of knowledge in all disciplines, from chemistry to
mathematics, from astronomy to the natural sciences.
Without the contribution of Isaac Newton, Stephen
Hawking, Charles Darwin, Peter Higgs, these and many
other British scientists much of the modern scientific
theories would not exist. The United Kingdom boasts
a centuries-old scientific culture and is connected
to the Italy of science and by a virtuous network of
relationships and shared projects, which we intend to
make known.

18. Contacts
Fulvia Mangili
COO
email: fulvia.mangili@festivalscienza.it
tel.: +39 010 6598711
mob.: +39 347 7267859
Associazione Festival della Scienza
Corso Perrone, 24
16152 Genova
tel +39 010 6598795
www.festivalscienza.it