Michaela Riccio, ricciom@cittadellascienza.it
On November 7, 5,000 people took part to a big event to celebrate the reopening of the exhibition areas of Città della Scienza in Naples, Italy. Just after eight month from the tragic fire that completely destroyed the Science Centre, Città della Scienza starts again with public activities and programs to give a tangible answer that we will not give up! The huge solidarity and support received after March, not only from the Italian citizens but also from the international community, has been a wealth of extraordinary importance. Thanks to this affection and to the concrete support of people and institutions, Città della Scienza has been able to resume 3,000 sqm of areas including exhibitions, labs, workshops and facilities, for the launch of the 27th edition of FUTURO REMOTO, the Annual Science Festival. Exhibitions include the interactive BRAIN exhibition, promoted by the Exhibitions Agency with Evergreen and in collaboration with the National Institute of Health, the Society for Neuroscience and Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives; Dino-baby, the exhibition that reconstructs on full-scale baby dinosaur nests and eggs from Australia; an exhibition on illusions coming from the Bloomfield Science Centre in Jerusalem. Futuro Remoto is also 10 days of events, debates and workshops on brain and neurosciences realized in collaboration with local institutions, enterprises, associations, universities and research centers. The opening ceremony took place in a very crowded conference hall at the presence of many institutional representatives with a scientific speech of Richard Walker, the spokesperson of the European Human Brain Project. In that occasion, Maya Halevy received the Città della Scienza Award for the Dialogue among Cultures in memory of Peter Hillman, a neuroscientist and founder of the Bloomfield Science Museum, for his engagement in dialogue and cooperation in Middle East. Next step will be the opening on December 2 of a collection of 15 hands-on exhibits coming from the Exploratorium of San Francisco in an outdoor facility funded by the Italian Conference of Regions and installed in front of the entrance of the past Science Centre. The path toward the reconstruction of the Science Centre has just started thanks to the commitment of all the team of Città della Scienza, the Neapolitan citizens and National and International Institutions. “Let’s rebuild Città della Scienza” is our final goal for the 2016!