From October 29 to November 2, the charming city of Lucca transforms into a vibrant stage where every street, square, and historic venue fills with comic book enthusiasts, gamers, and artists from all over Italy. The most iconic event dedicated to comics and illustration — Lucca Comics & Games is taking place!
For the third consecutive year, it welcomes CNR within the exclusive setting of the Comics&Science Palace. It’s here that scientists, authors, educators, and comic artists meet to explore the fascinating intersection between science and storytelling — a space where complex ideas take shape through the language of comics. Scientists, authors, science communicators, and comic artists come together to present the themes of the Comics&Science series by the CNR.
Born from the collaboration between Roberto Natalini, Director of the Institute for Applied Computing “Mauro Picone” (CNR-IAC), and Andrea Plazzi of Symmaceo Communications, Comics&Science is a project published by CNR Edizioni. Over the years, it has become a cultural bridge between scientific research and creative expression, showing how a well-drawn vignette can sometimes illuminate a theory better than a thousand words.
The topics covered are wide-ranging: each issue tackles different aspects of science — from physics to chemistry, from environmental studies to computer science, and even branches out into the humanities, exploring philology and history.
At the Comics&Science Palace, the atmosphere is one of dialogue and discovery. The event also features other prominent guests from the worlds of research, science communication, and publishing, who take the stage to share their projects, engage directly with the audience, and take part in signing sessions of the scientific comics.
On October 29 showcased the comic “Fun Vegetables“, published by CNR Edizioni. The project brought together the Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity (ISOF), the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Cultural Heritage (CNR-DSU), and the Public Relations and Integrated Communication Unit. It was created in the framework of the FUN-VEGE-Tables project funded by Cariplo: Field-experiment usage for nudging vegetables and legumes consumption at school: innovative approaches for promoting healthy eating among children and parents.
During the presentation, Dr. Alberto Zanelli as delegate among the ISOF researchers working in the pilot project, explained how the story came to life, and later turned into comic strips by artist Walter Leoni, with the mission to encourage elementary school children to eat more vegetables and legumes in their school lunches.
In this initiative, comics and science joined forces to inspire healthier eating habits among young students and to counter the growing trend of childhood overweight and obesity. The educational method used, known as “nudging” (or “gentle push” (a behavioral science technique that guides individual choices without impositions or restrictions), was tested in four schools in the Milan area.In each school, a different strategy was tested: physical priming in the school canteen environment during lunch, a catchy song titled “Let’s Eat a Rainbow” accompanied by an animated video, the media priming consisted in reading before lunch time to children’ episodes of the comic script, and a control group with no intervention. The results spoke for themselves — in the school where the comic was used, children left noticeably fewer veggies and legumes on their plates.4444, children left noticeably fewer veggies and legumes on their plates.
A small but meaningful success story, showing that a good story — even in comic form — can change behavior. And once again, Lucca Comics & Games proves that creativity and science can thrive side by side, turning curiosity into culture.