The most challenging activity we have organized to celebrate the International Year of Light 2015 was probably Fisici senza Frontiere @ Futuro Remoto.
Futuro Remoto, the biggest science festival in Naples, took place in Piazza del Plebiscito from October the 16th to the 19th and this year more than 100 students of the Naples Department of Physics were involved, as well as tens of researchers and professors from several institutions (e.g. CNR, INFN, CIRA), for a total of about 140 people. The volunteers covered a wide range of scientific activities (e.g., scientific speed date, several educational talks, more than 10 outreach stands), which made it possible to target a diverse audience. As part of our outreach initiative aimed at the youngest, we organized a Rubik cube competition.
Our rooftop summer party, a recent tradition for the Department of Physics, provided us with a setting to test and showcase the format, albeit on a smaller scale. Results were very encouraging, garnering appreciation and generally positive feedback from the students involved. We chose to follow the adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” so we kept the same rules: the fastest solver wins the prize.
According to official sources, about 130.000 people visited Futuro Remoto over the course of its four days. We could thus expose a very large crowd to our activities, at some point even attracting the attention of the Mayor of Naples, Mr. Luigi De Magistris. Even the smallest ones, such as the Rubik’s cube competition, successully managed to attract and fascinate visitors.