Florence, 29 October 2024 – From the director Cinzia TH Torrini to the CEO of Pitti Immagine Raffaello Napoleone, passing by Prof. Stefano Mancuso, the microbiologist Rino Rappuoli, and, this year, the Superintendent of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Carlo Fuortes. These are some of the ‘Ambassadors of Florentine character’ awarded by the city in recent years, on the occasion of the Florence Ambassador Award, the event promoted by the Municipality of Florence, in collaboration with Fondazione Destination Florence and Firenze Fiera, with the support for this edition of Triumph Group. An appointment that has grown year after year, acquiring more and more prestige and depth, and that is preparing to celebrate its eighth edition on Thursday 31 October in Palazzo Vecchio to pay tribute to those excellent personalities from the academic, scientific, congress and cultural worlds, who have contributed to attracting major events with their work.

A human capital that contributes to Florence’s prestige in the world, the acquisition of high-profile congresses. In 2024 alone, Florence will win 14 international congresses, with an overall economic impact estimated at almost 36 million euros and 15 thousand expected participants. Events, these, are the result of the work developed by the Destination Florence Foundation and Firenze Fiera, which this year collaborated on a further 39 bids for events scheduled from 2025 to 2029, which could bring more than 26 thousand congress participants to the city. According to the international consulting firm Gaining Edge, Florence is in fact the first city in Italy in terms of its ability to involve its academic and scientific fabric in attracting international congresses, with a conversion rate (known as the Harnessing Ratio) of 90%.

THE PROGRAMME. Now in its eighth edition, the Florence Ambassador Award will start at 6 pm in the Salone dei Cinquecento and will see the participation of the Councillor for Economic Development, Tourism, Fairs and Congresses Jacopo Vicini, and the Councillor for Culture and Participations Giovanni Bettarini, as well as the President of the Chamber of Commerce of Florence Massimo Manetti, the Vice-Chancellor for Education, Orientation and Student Services of the University of Florence Ersilia Menesini, the President of Fondazione Destination Florence Laura Masi, and the President of Firenze Fiera Lorenzo Becattini.

THE AWARD-WINNERS. This year, 14 awards will be presented to as many leading figures in the academic, scientific and conference spheres. Among them, climate change expert in agriculture Roberto Ferrise, Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies of the University of Florence, who applies mathematical models for a more resilient agriculture, and Marco Bindi, Professor at the University of Florence’s Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Science and Technology, together with Mauro Guglielmin, Director of the University of Insubria’s Climate Change Research Centre, an expert on permafrost and in particular the impacts that climate change can have on this environment. Acknowledgements also went to the expert in computational electromagnetism Roberto Graglia, Professor at the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Politecnico di Torino, and Giuliano Manara, Professor of electromagnetic fields at the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Pisa. Lastly, Giancarlo La Marca, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Florence and Deputy Scientific Director of the IRCCS Meyer, Michele Piana, Professor at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Genoa, Maria Sofia Randich, Research Director at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory of the National Institute of Astrophysics, Sergio Solinas, Researcher at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sassari, Pietro Ubertini, Associate Director of Research at the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), Nicolò Pietro Paolo Macciotta, Professor of General Animal Husbandry and Genetic Improvement at the Department of Agriculture of the University of Sassari, Antonio Toscano, Professor of Neurology at the University of Messina, and Giuseppe Lepri, founder and president of Newtours Spa, a historic landmark of the Florentine meetings industry.

A special award, assigned by the Municipality of Florence, will be given to Carlo Fuortes, Superintendent of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, for having breathed new life into this institution, making it a strategic asset of the city that combines culture, tourism and the conference world thanks to its multi-purpose soul. During the event, Fuortes and Culture Councillor Giovanni Bettarini will engage in a dialogue on ‘The Tradition of the New’.

Finally, an award will be presented by the Destination Florence Foundation for the 40 years of activity of TC Group – Tecnoconference and Gerist, whose professionalism and expertise play a central role in the Florentine meetings industry.