At the “Costa Smeralda”, crowded with students, we take off on the wings of science.

In Olbia, over 4,200 people attended the first two days of "Science in the Square" alone. With exhibits, conferences, workshops, and artistic performances, the event transformed Olbia Airport into a vast knowledge hub, focusing on scientific dissemination and scholastic skills, which many young people were able to showcase.

The event, organized by the Friends of the Simpliciana Civic Library of Olbia, the Olbia branch of Mathesis, and the Municipality of Olbia, in collaboration with Geasar SpA, Uniss, the Sassari branch of Aif, and with the patronage of the President of the Sardinia Regional Council and UniOlbia, is the result of months of hard work.

Backstage, the teachers (around 90 of them from STEM subjects) are always ready to enthusiastically highlight the commitment of the young students.

At the Ipsar “Costa Smeralda” stand, located in Budoni, they use a 3D printer to create edible chocolate decorations and a microscope to show visitors the differences between flours and starches.

"Everything in the kitchen is science," says Maria Giovanna Arcadu, lab teacher. "The students are taught the physical and chemical principles for the correct use of everything they use in the kitchen. Even a simple gesture, like whipping mayonnaise like they're doing now, if you think about it, involves a chemical reaction."

Like IPSAR, several schools from Northern Sardinia flocked to the city. On the first day, the conference on the Einstein Telescope captivated many students.

"This is our third year participating," says Tiziana Scordo, a physics and mathematics teacher at the Marconi Institute in Sassari. "It's a very educational experience for the students, who first learn the theory and then engage in the demonstration. The greatest rewards come from the elementary school children, who are amazed to hear them explain the experiments."

A little further on, there's a queue to try out the 3D viewers at the Dettori High School in Tempio: the kids "meet" Dante, who explains his Divine Comedy.