Brain Awareness Week 2026
Ten events and more than 20 guests for a rich programme dedicated to scientific dissemination and in-depth analysis of neuroscience. Brain Awareness Week 2026, the international event promoted by the Dana Foundation that takes place simultaneously around the world every year, begins on Monday 16 March. An event that has involved more than 7,000 organisations in 117 countries since 1996, Brain Awareness Week has also been held in Lucca for the past eleven years thanks to the IMT School.
"We are delighted", says Pietro Pietrini, director of the Molecular Mind Laboratory at the IMT School, "to once again open the doors of our School to the public and continue our journey together into the mysteries of the brain and its pathologies, with a programme packed with events on topics of great social relevance - such as mental suffering during pregnancy or the impact of artificial intelligence. As every year, all our events are designed for the general public of all ages, including children, who will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the fascinating world of brain research in our laboratories."
For this new edition, the first event is scheduled for Monday, 16 March at 5 pm in the Guinigi Chapel of the San Francesco Complex with the conference "Mental health of women of childbearing age and during pregnancy". Lorenzo Casini, rector of the IMT School, and Francesco Tagliente, president of the Insigniti OMRI Foundation, will open the meeting. This will be followed by presentations by Pietro Pietrini, professor of neuroscience at the IMT School, Andrea Fagiolini, professor of psychiatry at the University of Siena, and Alessandra Bramante, psychotherapist and clinical criminologist at the Italian Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health. The experts will discuss psychiatric issues that can arise during pregnancy or postpartum and how to prevent them.
At 9 pm the conference will be followed by a screening of Béatrice Pollet's film "Senza Prove" (Without Evidence), a movie on the theme of "pregnancy denial" based on a real court case.
On Tuesday, 17 March, at 10 am, in the Salone degli Svizzeri of the Palazzo Ducale in Massa, the inauguration of the photographic exhibition "I see you in your eyes. Anthology of stories of life and decline" will take place, organised in collaboration with the Provincial Order of Doctors and Dentists of Massa Carrara. For the occasion, IMT School professor Pietro Pietrini will give a keynote lecture entitled "Can intelligence be preserved throughout life?". At 2 pm on the same day, the seminar "New discoveries about the brain in nutrition and eating disorders" will be held online, curated by Marcella Romeo, a PhD student in cognitive, computational and social neuroscience at the IMT School.
On Wednesday, 18 March, Riccardo Manzotti and Simone Rossi will present their new book "Lo tsunami IA e IO" (The AI and IO Tsunami). The event, scheduled for 6 pm in the Guinigi Chapel of the San Francesco Complex, will be moderated by doctoral students in cognitive, computational and social neuroscience at the IMT School.
On Thursday, 19 March, the Brain Awareness Week meets Voci di Biblioteca, the book series organised by the IMT School in collaboration with the Agorà Civic Library: for the occasion, Daniela Perani will present her essay "Quando il cervello si emoziona" (When the brain gets excited). The event is scheduled for 6 pm in the IMT School Library, in Piazza San Ponziano. Luca Cecchetti, professor of psychometrics at the IMT School, and Giada Lettieri, researcher in general psychology at the IMT School, will be in conversation with the author.
On Friday, 20 March, on the occasion of National University Open Day, IMT School economics professor Sibilla Di Guida will hold a conference entitled "How do we choose what we buy? A journey into consumer psychology". The event is scheduled for 4 pm in the Guinigi Chapel of the San Francesco Complex.
On Saturday 21 March - at 3pm, 5pm and 7pm - the Church of San Franceschetto in the San Francesco Complex will host three performances of “Con Astolfo sulla luna - Uno spettacolo per occhi chiusi” (With Astolfo on the Moon - A Show for Closed Eyes). Based on the "Orlando Furioso", the play by director Maria Teresa Elena is designed for blind and visually impaired people but can also be enjoyed by people with normal vision. The initiative is organised with the contribution of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca and the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca in collaboration with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired.
On Tuesday, 24 March, the Brain Awareness Week 2026 in Lucca will conclude with Pietro Pietrini's lecture “How we make decisions. The wisdom of the night”, scheduled for 4 pm in the Guinigi Chapel of the San Francesco Complex.
On Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18, from 3 pm to 6 pm, the IMT School will open its doors for "The brain is child's play, come to the laboratory to find out how we study it!". The initiative is aimed at families and children aged six to 11 and will allow young people to learn about the mysteries of the brain in the laboratories where IMT School researchers work every day.
All events are free and open to the public.
Brain Awareness Week forms part of the IMT School’s “Educating Future Citizens” (EFC) project, a Next Generation EU PNRR project funded by the European Union which aims to foster informed citizens through a collaborative network involving specialised schools and university-affiliated schools, promoting internationalisation, innovation, career guidance, advanced training and digitalisation.