The closing ceremony of the 5th edition of Art&Science Across Italy, the project combining artistic creativity and scientific research promoted by the National Institute for Nuclear Physics INFN, CERN in Geneva and the University of Naples Federico II, took place at the Teatro Diana, in Naples.
During the event, 30 secondary school students from across Italy were awarded a one-week masterclass dedicated to the relationship between art and science, to be held at CERN in Geneva. This year’s awards ceremony and national exhibition were dedicated to the memory of Anna Dalla Vecchia, an INFN staff member who recently passed away and who contributed with passion and commitment to the growth of the project.
First place was awarded to the artwork “Whispers in motion” created by Valentina Scrimitore, Elizabeth Cuasay and Angelica Orlandino from the “Ciardo Pellegrino” Arts and Dance High School in Lecce. In second place came “Prometheus’ revenge”, created by Zhi Cao Wang, Lucia Sorteni and Niccolò Zulian of the “G. Bruno – R. Franchetti” Higher Education Institute in Venice-Mestre, while the artwork “Threads of Time”, by Sara Nocerino and Luigi Di Pietro from the “G. Galilei” Scientific High School in Naples, took third place.
The ceremony was accompanied by a talk dedicated to time and the universe by the project’s creator and INFN researcher Pierluigi Paolucci, together with musical performances by the UKU Band.
The 69 finalist works exhibited in the national exhibition “Atoms of imagination. Young talents create science”, inaugurated on May 9 at the Real Albergo dei Poveri, were evaluated by a jury composed of experts in art, science and science communication. The exhibition, organised by INFN in collaboration with the University Federico II, will remain open to visitors until May 17.
“We have now reached the fifth edition of the project: in ten years we have reached more than 24,000 students, and announcing the winners is always a great emotion and a source of satisfaction for all the researchers who have accompanied these young people over two years of encounters between art and science”, comments Pierluigi Paolucci. “Art&Science Across Italy”, Paolucci continues, “demonstrates how dialogue between creativity and scientific rigour can become a fundamental tool for helping new generations develop curiosity, critical thinking and the ability to observe reality with a new and aware perspective”.
A total of 5,280 students from 151 Italian schools took part in the 2024–2026 edition of Art&Science Across Italy. Over the two-year period they created more than 1,153 works inspired by the great themes of science after taking part in seminars, meetings and activities organised by researchers from the INFN divisions and universities involved in the project. Between September 2025 and May 2026, the works were displayed in 16 exhibitions organised in the cities of Bari, Cagliari, Catania, Ferrara, Florence, Genoa, Lecce, Milan, Naples, Padua, Perugia, Pisa, Potenza, Rome, Teramo and Turin. At each stage, the most significant works were selected to form the national exhibition in Naples.
The Art&Science Across Italy project:
The Art&Science Across Italy project, lasting two years, involves students in the third, fourth and fifth years of secondary school with the aim of bringing them closer to the world of scientific research while engaging with different individual aptitudes and interests. During the first year, seminars, workshops and visits to museums and laboratories are organised, which students use as inspiration to create artistic works on scientific subjects. The completed works are exhibited and awarded prizes in regional exhibitions, while the most significant are collected in the national exhibition that concludes the project. Since its first edition, the project has involved more than 24,000 students from 15 Italian regions, where the project is coordinated by researchers from the INFN divisions and local universities.
Partners of Art&Science Across Italy:
The 2024–2026 edition of the Art&Science Across Italy project is organised through a collaboration between INFN, CERN and the University of Naples Federico II, under the patronage of Rai Campania and with media partners Rai Cultura and Rai Radio 3.
Information on the national exhibition “Atoms of imagination. Young talents create science”
Where: Real Albergo dei Poveri of Naples, Piazza Carlo III 1, Naples
When: from 9 to 17 May 2025
Opening hours: every day 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m., last admission at 5:15 p.m.
Information on the Art&Science Across Italy project:
https://artandscience.infn.it/
