More than 130 participants attended the Extreme Energy Events Project study days dedicated to Southern Italy schools, held on October 13-14 at the “Aldo Cossu” Main Hall of the University of Bari. Thirty participating schools filled the hall with teachers and students from all southern regions and islands—from Lampedusa, the farthest—with representatives also from Lazio (including the school where E. Fermi himself studied) and Abruzzo.
The Extreme Energy Events Project, launched in 2004 from a brilliant idea by Prof. Antonino Zichichi, approaches the milestone of 100 participating schools, including those hosting cosmic ray telescopes and others awaiting detectors but contributing to data taking and analysis.
The meeting featured Centro Fermi President Prof. Luisa Cifarelli and Research Structure Director Dr. Rosario Nania. Organized by Project Coordinator Prof. Marcello Abbrescia, it opened with greetings from the University of Bari Rector Prof. Antonio Uricchio, followed by INFN Bari Section Director Prof. Mauro de Palma, Uniba School of Sciences and Technologies President Prof. Paolo Spinelli, and science journalist Dr. Elisabetta Durante-Romano, all expressing strong appreciation for the project.
A key moment was the official launch of Run 3, the third coordinated data-taking period across Italy, greeted with prolonged applause. Schools presented their EEE activities and reviewed progress with project researchers. Master Classes repeated successful sessions from Grosseto (Central Italy days), covering EEE Data Quality Monitoring (Daniele De Gruttola), cosmic flux variations correlated with solar events (Ivan Gnesi), and coincidence analysis between EEE network telescopes (Edoardo Bossini).
The meeting included convivial lunches on both days at Liceo A. Scacchi, which hosts an EEE telescope kindly made available by Principal Prof. Giovanni Magistrale. In the project’s spirit of revealing young talents, catering was professionally managed by teachers and students from Istituto E. Majorana. Traditional Barese orecchiette with turnip greens allowed physics discussions under a cosmic ray telescope while pleasantly planning the project’s future.