Contributors

Born in Cagliari in 1983, Alessandro Aresu is a geopolitical analyst who graduated in Philosophy of Law from the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. Since 2005 he has served as scientific adviser to Limes — Italy’s foremost publication on geopolitics — and also writes for Le Grand Continent, Aspenia, Gnosis and numerous newspapers. Over the course of his career he has provided consultancy and led initiatives for leading institutions, including the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the Italian Space Agency. He has also collaborated with international organisations such as Eurasia Group and the Rann Strategy Group. His intellectual work focuses on the relationship between politics, economics and technology, with particular attention to global strategic supply chains, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and space geopolitics. Among his most significant volumes are L’interesse nazionale. La bussola dell’Italia (il Mulino, 2018, with Luca Gori); Le potenze del capitalismo politico. Stati Uniti e Cina (La Nave di Teseo, 2020); I cancelli del cielo. Economia e politica della grande corsa allo spazio 1950–2050 (Luiss University Press, 2022, with Raffaele Mauro); Il dominio del XXI secolo. Cina, Stati Uniti e la guerra invisibile sulla tecnologia (Feltrinelli, 2022); Geopolitica dell’intelligenza artificiale (Feltrinelli, 2024), a finalist for the inaugural Strega Prize for Non-Fiction; and La Cina ha vinto (2025). A lecturer at numerous elite training institutions, he is a member of the scientific committee of the Fondazione Feltrinelli and of the board of directors of the Fondazione Praexidia.

Composer, artistic director, music critic and radio and television presenter, Nicola Campogrande graduated in composition from the Conservatories of Milan, under Azio Corghi, and of Paris. He is regarded as one of the most important Italian composers of his generation: his music, published exclusively by Breitkopf & Härtel since 2017, has been performed by artists such as Riccardo Chailly, Gautier Capuçon and Lilya Zilberstein in prestigious venues including Teatro alla Scala and the Philharmonie de Paris. His catalogue comprises more than 200 symphonic, chamber and theatrical works, including the operas Opera italiana and #Folon. Since 1998 he has presented cultural programmes on Rai Radio3 and for several years was a television presenter on Classica HD (Sky). He was artistic director of the MITO SettembreMusica festival from 2016 to 2023 and, for eleven years, of the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra; since 2023 he has been composer-in-residence of the Milan Symphony Orchestra and the Bologna Municipal Theatre. He contributes to the culture pages of Corriere della Sera and has written several works of musical popularisation, including Occhio alle orecchie, now in its sixth edition.

Patrizia Caraveo is a Research Director at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and has directed the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics in Milan. For her contributions to understanding the high-energy emission of neutron stars, she received the National Prize of the President of the Republic in 2009 and the Enrico Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society in 2021. In 2014 she was included in the list of Highly Cited Researchers and received the Outstanding Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace Europe. Author of more than 470 scientific papers, with an impact factor exceeding 120, she is the most-cited active Italian researcher in the field of astrophysics. As a member of the Swift, Fermi and AGILE collaborations, she shared the Bruno Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical Society with colleagues on three occasions, in 2007, 2011 and 2012. In 2017 she was named Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. In 2025 she was elected President of the Italian Astronomical Society. She is a member of Gruppo 2003 for scientific research and of the “100 Women Against Stereotypes” initiative. Highly active in science communication, she has published 12 books.

Luca De Biase is an award-winning innovation journalist, essayist, professor and researcher, author of numerous successful books and pro bono contributor to Italian and European policy initiatives. A graduate in Economics from Bocconi University, he began his career in social history, working with Fernand Braudel in Paris, Aldo De Maddalena in Milan and Claudio Povolo in Venice. He then became a journalist, contributing to the launch of a financial daily in Italy, while continuing his research into ethics and economics for an Italian bank and into local development at the OECD. Since 1994 he has viewed the internet as a great opportunity to develop new ideas in journalism, and in 2005 he founded the Nòva project for Il Sole 24 Ore, which he directed for around fifteen years. He is currently Director of the Media Ecology research network at Reimagine Europa and Director of the Imminent Research Center, dedicated to the economics of language and artificial intelligence, at Translated. He hosts podcasts on media ecology and the knowledge society and teaches at the Universities of Pisa and of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He is the author of numerous volumes, including Armonie future (Rubbettino, 2021), Il lavoro del futuro (Codice, 2018), Come saremo, with Telmo Pievani (Codice, 2016), Homo pluralis (Codice, 2015), Media civici (Vita Feltrinelli, 2013), Cambiare pagina (Rizzoli, 2011), Economia della felicità (Feltrinelli, 2007) and Amore di Stato. Venezia Settecento (Sellerio, 1992). He defines innovation journalism as the development of a forward-looking perspective on events — a sort of history of the future, requiring humility and passion alongside rigorous research.

rchitect, designer and PhD, Annalisa Dominoni is an international point of reference in the field of design for extreme and space environments. She teaches at the School of Design of the Politecnico di Milano, where she heads ESA_LAB@PoliMi_Design, a research laboratory developed with the European Space Agency (ESA). She devised and teaches the Space4InspirACTion programme, the first academic course in space architecture and design supported by ESA, and X-Habitat, dedicated to design for extreme environments. Her research integrates neuroscience, behaviour and design to develop solutions for confined environments, high-criticality systems and emergency scenarios. She has also devised the Use & Gesture Design (UGD) methodology, applied to the systemic and behavioural dimension of design.

Founder of the Millennium Charter of Space Architecture (Houston, 2002), she has coordinated and developed research projects for space exploration with ESA, NASA and ASI, contributing to equipment tested on the International Space Station. She collaborates with aerospace industries such as Thales Alenia Space, Virgin Galactic and Argotec, with research bodies and government institutions, and with leading Italian design and industrial companies. She has received numerous international awards over the course of her career, including the Compasso d’Oro, the ESA Scientific Award for Young Researchers, the ADI Design Index, the BIG SEE Product Design Award, and the Premio Focus Raymond Zreick for Technology and Innovation.

Her projects have been exhibited at international institutions and events, including the Triennale di Milano, the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci”, the London Science Museum and the Frankfurt Messe. She is also curator of Design Spaziale Italiano, a touring exhibition project promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dedicated to the contribution of Italian design to innovation in space exploration. An Italian Design Ambassador and visiting professor at prestigious international universities, she has published more than 200 scientific contributions and numerous monographs, contributing decisively to establishing space design as a recognised international discipline.

Edicola 518 is the rebel newsstand for lovers of fine paper. We, the artists of Emergenze, founded it on 1 June 2016 on the site of a historic newsagent’s in Perugia, and have made it a bookshop without equal anywhere in the world. Its selection offers a range unique in Italy of independent magazines, artists’ books, anarchist ephemera, fanzines and self-produced works under our own publishing imprint, Emergenze Publishing. We have defined the space of Edicola 518 as four square metres of infinite space.

Born in Copenhagen in 1987, Søren Pihlmann studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 2014. After co-founding the practice Lenschow & Pihlmann with Kim Lenschow, he established Pihlmann Architects in 2021, a Copenhagen-based practice that has rapidly gained international attention for its radically honest approach to materials and the existing built fabric. His practice — which he himself describes as “generative preservation” and “curious curation” — proceeds from a stated principle: the starting point is not what one might wish for, but what already exists. Treating existing buildings as reservoirs of materials and resources, he seeks to reveal hidden value in structures, materials and spaces otherwise taken for granted or overlooked, transforming them without erasing their history. Notable projects include Thoravej 29 (Copenhagen, 2025), the transformation of a 1960s factory into a community arts hub in which 95% of materials were reused on site, a finalist project for the EUmies Awards. In 2025 he represented Denmark at the Venice Architecture Biennale with the pavilion Build of Site, refurbishing the pavilion itself and turning the exhibition space into an ongoing construction site, in which surplus materials and the construction process itself became the heart of the exhibition and of a curatorial practice of reuse. His honours include the Henning Larsen Foundation Honorary Award (2022) and the Årets Arne (2023) — Denmark’s most prestigious architecture prize, named after Arne Jacobsen — awarded for the House14a project. In 2025 The Architectural Review named him among the most significant emerging architects, and he was also a finalist for Dezeen’s Emerging Architect of the Year.

Architect, designer and PhD, Benedetto Quaquaro is an international reference point in the field of design for extreme and space environments. He teaches at the School of Design of the Politecnico di Milano within the Master of Science programmes in Interior and Spatial Design and Integrated Product Design, and heads ESA_LAB@PoliMi_Design, a research laboratory developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Together with Annalisa Dominoni, he devised and directs Space4InspirACTion, the first academic course in space architecture and design supported by ESA (since 2017), and X-Habitat, a programme dedicated to design for extreme environments (since 2025).

He began his career in naval design, before collaborating with Tecno, founded by Osvaldo Borsani, working alongside architects such as Norman Foster and Gae Aulenti and artists such as Bruno Munari and Arnaldo Pomodoro. In 2011, together with Annalisa Dominoni, he founded the practice (a+b) dominoni quaquaro, active in transportation design, fashion technology, and product and furniture design. The practice develops projects that integrate technological innovation, ergonomic research and sensory quality. Notable projects include the Leonardo trains for the Milan metro for ATM-Hitachi Rail Italy, the Pinna acoustic elements for Caimi Brevetti, and the Sensory Space Station, a concept developed for Thales Alenia Space dedicated to astronauts’ perceptual wellbeing.

He conducts research and design work with ESA, NASA, ASI, Thales Alenia Space, Virgin Galactic, Argotec and numerous Italian design and industrial companies. He is also curator of Design Spaziale Italiano, a touring exhibition project promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the contribution of Italian design to innovation in space exploration. His projects have been exhibited at international venues including the Triennale di Milano, the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci” and the London Science Museum. He has received numerous international awards, including the ADI Design Index, the DIA Design Intelligence Award Honourable Mention, the Premio Focus Raymond Zreick, and the BIG SEE Product Design Award.

An Italian Design Ambassador and visiting professor at prestigious international universities, he is the author of essays and publications dedicated to design culture and space design.

An architect and journalist, Laura Ragazzola worked until 2018 at Interni, an international monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and design. As head of the architecture section, she developed a thorough knowledge of the international architectural scene, with particular attention to Nordic projects, sustainability, and new approaches and strategies for minimising environmental impact. She has met and interviewed leading practices, including Snøhetta, MVRDV, BIG, SHoP, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Shigeru Ban, Zaha Hadid, Michele De Lucchi, Bouroullec, Kengo Kuma, UNStudio, OMA, 3XN, Philippe Starck, Herzog & de Meuron, Sean Godsell, Mario Botta, Grafton and Francis Kéré, among others. As a freelance journalist she writes for Corriere della Sera, Sette, D-La Repubblica, Domus, Arketipo, Abitare and Home Italia. In 2020 she curated a series of webinars on architectural design entitled “RETHINKING DESIGN”, and since 2022 a series, “UN ARCHITETTO ITALIANO A…”, dedicated to talented young Italian architects working abroad. She is among the curators of SEED.

Designer and strategic consultant in the fields of corporate identity, territorial branding, brand identity, exhibition design and product design. A graduate of ISIA Urbino, he is the founder of the practice Bcpt/Comodo, where he applies an ethnographic approach to design, specialising in projects of territorial and community regeneration. Over the course of his career he has collaborated with numerous companies and institutions, including Mondadori, Apple Italia, EMU, Listone Giordano, the Region of Umbria, the Fondazione Umbria Jazz, the Santarcangelo Theatre Festival, the Fondazione Olivetti, Fiera Milano, Torino World Design Capital 2008, Sviluppumbria, the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism, and the Centro Cultural Chacra de los Remedios in Buenos Aires. His numerous visual identity and branding projects have received national and international honours, including the ADI Design Index and the European Design Awards. Since 2006 he has taught Design Methodology at ISIA Urbino. Since 2014 he has been Professor of Design at the “Pietro Vannucci” Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia, where since 2018 he has coordinated the graduate programme in Territorial Brand Design. He also holds the Interior Design course at the Department of Engineering of the University of Perugia. From 2018 to 2026 he served as National President of AIAP – the Italian Association for Visual Communication Design.