Following an idea, that of illustrating the scientific excellences of Pisa, I tried to understand which were the most important, and what characterized the city. Living in that area of Italy I knew something: The ancient University (founded in 1343), the Virgo project, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2017, but above all Galileo Galilei, the most illustrious citizen . But then? The professionals interviewed told me almost in unison that the excellence was Pisa itself. A small city with a university attended by 50,000 students, two higher education schools, the largest CNR in Italy, the Virgo project on gravitational waves, the INGV. Cutting-edge scientific research in many sectors. A particular focus on divulgation, both museum and interactive. Everything nearby, everything or almost everything in the city… And I began a journey to discover the many scientific excellences for which Pisa can define itself as a city of science, also celebrating in February the 460th year of birth of Galileo Galilei, its most famous citizen.

That of the Bridge over the Strait of Messina is one of the many endless stories that Italy is full of. Sicily and Calabria are separated by a stretch of sea so narrow that one might wonder why a bridge has never been built there. A question that perhaps began to be asked in very ancient times, when first the Greeks and then the Romans had created flourishing civilizations in the area of ​​which important testimonies remain. Even in more modern times, those who administered those territories had thought about it. Even if current politicians and/or professionals fill their mouths with "we've been talking about it for forty years, fifty years, sixty years", the first modern design sketches date back to the mid-nineteenth century, the era in where Italy did not yet exist as a Sovereign State and Calabra and Sicily were part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Major technical problems due to sea currents, significant seismicity and other things have always stopped projects in their tracks. But like a recurring mantra, national politicians often propose the construction of a bridge that would connect Sicily to Europe, perhaps playing on the driving force of an underdevelopment that persists but to a much lesser extent than even in the middle of the last century. Today's Sicilians and Calabrians don't want the bridge for a series of plausible reasons. From the uselessness of the work in an era in which the way of traveling has radically changed for goods and people, up to a disastrous environmental impact in an environment as beautiful as it is fragile that is the Strait of Messina. Yet it would be the longest single-span bridge in the world, with the added bonus of a railway crossing. A discussed and controversial work. Meanwhile, the national government is fearing dates for the start of works and hundreds of inhabitants on both sides have received notices of housing expropriation to make room for structures and construction sites.

In a remote area near Iquitos, Peru, a group of dedicated volunteers and local biologists are helping to inspire awareness for one of the Amazon River's most charismatic species - the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis).  With funding by The Dallas World Aquarium (DWA), this project has become one of most exciting in-situ programs in South America focusing on conservation of manatee as well. The Amazon Rescue Center not only rescues and rehabilitates orphaned (The young calves had been orphaned after the mothers were killed for their meat by local tribesmen are feeded by powdered milk and cared by medical supplies, they arrive to the center in a bad condition of health and after the rehabilitation they are liberated), it also has an outstanding environmental education program that is the core of the conservation project.  Since its inception, more than 40,000 students from local schools, organizations and civic groups have learned about the importance of the conservation of Amazonian manatees and their environment.  Students are given the opportunity to visit the center and observe the manatees first-hand. Although classrooms may be somewhat rustic, the eagerness to learn and the excitement of the children make up for what may be lacking in the physical conditions of the building. The rehabilitation center is gaining popularity both as an eco-tourist attraction and as a learning center where visitors can participate in conservation-in-action, helping to save endangered Amazonian manatees.  Local hotels and restaurants have begun to support the project as well and promote the facility as a unique destination for visitors to Iquitos. Video interviews (in spanish) available

A little hidden Tuscan excellence geothermal energy is the fundamental pillar of the economy of a vast area between the provinces of Grosseto, Siena and Pisa. In these places where still puffs of steam constantly come out of the subsoil in certain natural areas, in this typical Tuscan countryside dotted with cooling towers from which steam escapes uninterruptedly and crossed by aerial pipes, geothermal energy has been a resource since 1818, first for extraction. of boric acid, then from 1904 for the production of electric current. The steam as such offers heat and hot water at ridiculously low prices to entire communities that have chosen district heating, generates a lowering of costs in food production rooted in the territory, and regulates others. However, geothermal energy is a resource that needs government incentives to support the development of the local economy and in times of clean energy it has been suspended.

We can also talk of biodiversity in the agricultural and agri-food sector; from apples to corn the varieties are innumerable, they have almost always been created and maintained over the centuries thanks to a short supply chain that self-generated due to the often complex logistics of the areas outside the main communication routes, especially in the mountains and valleys. internal. Despite the homologation, the large distribution and everything that makes the world modern, many seeds of local varieties have not been lost. Cultivations have often continued only for family use. Thanks to national laws for the protection of biodiversity, the figure of the guardian farmer was born in Italy, a person who in collaboration with a Germplasm bank is responsible for cultivating local food varieties, keeping them in purity, preserving their seeds and promoting them as territorial excellence. . In Garfagnana, a valley in the mountains of northern Tuscany, known for a strong cultural identity and many landscape and historical features, thirty-six are the custodian farmers of the native varieties, there are also breeders who maintain local breeds of cattle and sheep. A group of highly motivated people in enhancing their area also through these productions that characterize its uniqueness even more in the name of agrobiodiversity.

In the complex issue of waste management, Italy, among the European countries with more than 45 million inhabitants, is in second place, preceded only by Germany. On an average of 46% of Italy it is 49% in terms of recovery and recycling. Capannori, a municipality in the Lucca plain which since 2007 has adhered to the strategy called Zero Waste by implementing an articulated series of good practices that has made it a point of reference in national and international level. From Capannori some experiences have started in the country in which the typical Italian inventiveness has given rise to extremely sustainable economic activities from the point of view of the circular economy. From bread to shoes is dispersed in a much less material environment than in the past, everything goes back into the circular economy , even from unthinkable entrances.

They will certainly not be the resolution of the energy problem that is being created as a consequence of the Russian-Ukraine crisis, but small and not so small virtuous examples tell us that other paths are possible in the field of renewable energy. From wind turbines to biomethane, from wood processing waste to energy-producing garbage, Italy is collecting many experiences of relative energy self-sufficiency. A series of success stories that have created wealth and savings for citizens.

The zoological station Anthon Dohrn , situated in the Villa Comunale of Neaples, is a part of Italy’s scientific story. It has been set up in the second half of 19th century by a german scientist follower of Darwin (Anthon Dohrn) and nowadays is one of the best marine biology center of the word., with research laboratories, a rich collection of marine organism and a specialized library with ancient and very modern texts. This story is a journey inside this institute starting from museum and library, going through the really modern reseach technologies, till showing some plans in progress like the Turtle Point a real hospital specializing in care for sea turtles (Caretta caretta).

Although many years have passed and has been incorporated into Chevron Texaco, though now the oil extraction is done in an environmentally friendly, the huge dispersion of cuttings perpetrated for decades by Texaco in 'Amazonian Ecuador in the north east continues to be felt. In addition to the oil wells continue to pump in the area there, "the amazon ever," with its lush vegetation interspersed with small villages. The environmental damage does not seem to be there. Hastily buried under a layer of soil on the oil's surface bodies of water where vegetation grows, causing the death of animals who drink this water or eat the plants ... and this is only one aspect of the disaster. If a stem touches the soil layer where the oil is still present at the plant dies ... and the harvest is ruined. The amount of livestock deaths in the area is impressive. What is even more disturbing is the state of health of the population, there is a very high percentage of cases of cancer and respiratory diseases and skin, there are cases of malformations and congenital diseases. the court of Lake Agrio has won a lawsuit against Chevron-Texaco, forcing the corporation to pay a large sum of money as damages, a sum designed to restore a devastated environment. Chevron-Texaco is not paying a dime ...

Cruma is a center for the recovery of sea and aquatic animals situated on the hills behind Livorno, west coast of Italy as you can understand  from its name the center is established to provide shelter and recovery to sea and aquatic  animals. Cormorants, herons, shearwaters, ducks, seagulls, swans and wading birds are only a few of the many sea and aquatic species that can be cured in the center.?Every year more than 3.000 animals arrive in the center; they have been  victims of firearms, poisoning, traumas caused by collisions, smear, pathologies. They may also be common chicks needing special care during the growth.?CRUMA works as a hospital and is provided with a reception, an operating theatre, postoperative stables, incubators, boxes and aviaries to help the birds fly, and pools for sea animals. The animals reach the ealing and are liberated. All of this managed by a very professional group of biologists and veteritaries suported by volounteers.

In the search for clean and renewable energy, in order to safeguard the environment and in order to avoid delving too much into public and private funds, the South Tyrolean council of Dobbiaco, with a population of 3,248 citizens in the province of Bolzano, has been awarded 100% for its efforts regarding clean and renewable energy. Since 2005, the county makes use of a power station fuelled by waste products from the local sawmills; with mountains of shavings and sawdust and a vast network of pipes, the power station is able to provide heating to all the residents of the county and the neighbouring county. The power station is such an object of pride that it is even open to visitors. "The future now lies in the sun; we want to concentrate on photovoltaic energy", explains Bernhard Mair, the Mayor of Dobbiaco. His county already makes use of photovoltaic and hydro-electric energy. In fact, the land is rich in water and wood resources. Dobbiaco represents a winning formula, as the clean energy respects the environment (in this case in particular, the wonderful nature surrounding the Dolomites), it increases the amount of work opportunities (the running of the plants necessitates manpower), and, above all, it improves the quality of life.

The PeR,"parco delle energie rinnovabili"(Renewable energies park) is an experiment of a country hotel situated in Umbria (center Italy). They built it using "eclogic" material and they manage it using only renewable energy. High-res files availables on demand

To know and to discover for to do better, this is practically the mission of A.C.C.A, "acociacion por la conservacion de la cuenca amazonica", a peruvian society that manage two concessions that they built two esarech centers , one is the C.I.C.R.A, along the river Madre de Dios seven hours far from the city of Puerto Maldonado, the other one is in the nebular forrest down to Cuzco, the Wayqeche woods. On this places scientists from many universities can develop thier reseacrh about the amazonic environment. Thanks to discovers and scientific research they help too the local agricolture to empower his production and respecti the environmen at te same time

Crossing the Americas by ship from the Pacific to the Atlantic and vice versa has been a dream since the time of the discovery of the continent, a dream that has always translated into big gains, such as to create puppet states, fight wars, maneuver the internal politics of countries etc ... Panama is a reality, but a few hundred kilometers to the north Nicaragua has always offered more opportunities for its morphology, but the story had always turn his back, until the last months of 2014, when the state has granted a Chinese firm the contract work. The fact unleashed a hornet's nest of controversy, for the lack of transparency and for contents of the concession. The opinion seems split in two, those who live far from the area of ​​work, and who holds the levers of power that supports the work will bring wealth in the poorest country of Latin America. Groups of intellectuals, environmentalists and local populations are hardly opposed to a work that will upset the morphology of the small country and, under the terms of the concession, will sell it to the Chinese. The coordination group anti-channel, called itself Cocibolca, in homage to the largest lake in Nicaragua (and Central American) that will be crossed by the channel. A delicate and unique natural environment, populated by friendly and productive people. Covered by this story , shortly before the work starting , when everything will change.

Instituto Butantan is a brazilian biomedical research center affiliated to the State Secretary of Health. The Institute was founded by the Brazilian physician and biomedical scientist Vital Brazil in 1901 by combining in the same institution medical research, the transfer of the results to society as health products, and self-financing through this later activity. Nowadays it's internationally renowned for its research on venomous animals. It is also a state-supported producer of vaccines against many infectious diseases, such as rabies, hepatitis, botulism, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis and tuberculosis, as well as polyvalent and monovalent antivenoms against the bites of snakes, lizards, bees, scorpions and spiders. The Institute develops basic and applied biomedical research in many areas, including molecular biology, immunology and epidemiology and has a graduate research training program in collaboration with other institutions, in the areas of biotechnology and infectology. Besides its research laboratories, production units and specialized library, it operates an animal breeding center for providing subjects for research and production of sera. The institute also accepts donations of serpents, arthropods and other animals captured by the public and by a network of collaborating centers and individuals.The Butantan Institute is one of the major touristic and educational attractions in a vast park area in the city section of Butantã in São Paulo. It has a serpentarium, a historical museum, a biological museum, and a museum of microbiology. The venom farm is a major attraction and visitors can see the snakes housed in representations of their natural environments.

In kichwa, Mamallacta means mother hearth; never a surname had been more appropriate for a family that lives around a patriarch curandero bearer of an ancestral knowledge. He is like a man from another world, who speaks little Spanish and interpretes the visions that his patients have under the Ayawaska effects, almost as a Freudian psychologist interpreting dreams. The sons, especially Nelson and Elias, are greatly included in the XXI century and blindly defeds the cause of protecting nature and the autochthonous culture. The Mamallacta property, in an idyllic position near Archidona, in the Napo province, ecuadorian central Amazon, is a bothanic garden with medical herbs, Nelson is part of the "net of the seeds guardians" an au pair exchange between owners of specimen and varieties which are threatened with extinction, seeding them in their own garden, means stopping their extinction; Iji the other brother, has a nursery for amazonic plants protection and the supply where they are disappearing. All this is surrounded by the volunteer's visits, international contacts, Ayawaska ceremonies and a good familiar feeling of that big clan of natives called Mamallacta.