The scientific and photographic expositions are one of the main components of my work. I strongly believe that promoting wildlife in cities is a powerful tool to bring nature to the people and children and to raise the social awareness about themes like wildlife conservation, scientific and sustainable progress and so on.

ARACHNIDA

This exposition has been shown in four italian cities (Bergamo, Pisa, Genova and Carmagnola). Each time it was seen by 9000-11000 visitors. Arachnida is dedicated to Spiders, Scorpions and other Arachnids that populate the little-worlds-in-the-World. The first desing has been ideated by Aracnofilia – Italian Arachnological Society and the Natural History Museum of Bergamo (Italy).
This exposition features 12 vivariums with different and interesting species, which are unique and particular among others. Together with the live animals, a total of 14 panels talk about biology, history, psicology and many other fields of study. Spiders and Arachnids in general have always had a strong appeal to human beings, generating both fear and wonder.
Since the Genova’s exposition a photographic show by Emanuele Biggi and Francesco Tomasinelli has been added. This photo-exhibit is not a normal “good-single-picture” esposition. Each panel tells a story about a particular aspect of  Arachnids life, using pictures and text in a new manner to intend photographic shows.

For the Genova edition a very cute and interesting work has been done by a group of asylum children, guided by Simonetta Maione. They started from some pictures by the authors to give birth to personally manifactured metal sculptures, paintings and “thoughts” about the Arachnid world. This part of the show has then been exposed and has been a great part of the work

To complete the work, Arachnida also features conferences and hands-on laboratories like:

• The superpowers of spiders: from Spiderman to the real spiders. A conference dedicated to the unreal world of the Spiderman’s superpowers and how they could be interpretated in the real Spiders world.
• Spiders in action!: a conference/laboratory about the biology of Arachnids, shown with the help of pc presetation, short videos, live interaction with animals and childrens.
• Tarantola and tarantella: a conference about the raising of the Tarantola myth. In the same evening a traditional music/dance company performs dances and songs like “pizzica-taranta”. In this manner science meets tradition and myth, mixing the nature knowledge in a very intriguing way.

PREDATORI DEL MICROCOSMO (trad: predators of the Microcosm)

This exposition has been presented on 27 March 2009 at the Castello D’Albertis, Museum of the World Cultures (Genova) and it’s completely ideated by Emanuele Biggi and Francesco Tomasinelli.
The show present a selection of live animals, photographic stories and children-made artworks that aim to represent the great importance of the small predators in the ecosystems.
Geckoes, Orchid Mantids, Spiders and semi-terrestrial Fishes are only a part of the strange but interesting world that populate our world, even if a lot of us don’t care about them. But it’s a necessary world and without all that small creatures, life wouldn’t be so “easy” for us. Many small predators have a pest-control role, other keep the herbivores at low densities, permitting the forests alive.
Predatori del Microcosmo also features the art ability of Marco Boetti, a nature painter that each week bringed his technical skills to all the people present at the exposition. This laboratory was mostly attended by children that can learn how to paint a frog of a centipede with the advices of an expert artist.

As for the previous exposition, Predatori del Microcosmo features some conferences and hands-on laboratories like:

• Miniature hunt – the thousand ways used by Microcosmos predators to catch preys:  short conference and hands-on laboratory.
• Venom, the most diffused weapon in the animal world: a short 20′ presentation with photos, videos and then an hour of hands-on laboratory with live animals about venom in the Microcosm.

Here below it is possible to download a part of the press reviews by clicking on the thumbs: