ABSTRACT
Since the early 1990s, the Italian public, Italy’s politicians and entrepreneurs, together with the media and the entertainment market, have been showing a growing interest in science and scientists. There has been a mushrooming of public and private initiatives aimed at communicating and promoting science: an increasing number of magazines are devoted to science, there are many successful TV and radio programmes, and science festivals attract large and attentive audiences. And yet, despite the quantity, and often good quality of the non-specialist information on science in circulation, scientists and several commentators have found an indication in several cases that relations between science, technology and citizens in Italy have reached a critical stage.1
