Dialogues on Ice, the autumn edition is here - Four meetings on science, adventure and climate change - MUSE

From Trentino to the Himalayas, passing through the Vatnajökul glacier in Iceland. A fascinating journey into the worlds of cold, between ice caves, borderline vines and climate change. Back to the MUSE "Dialogues on ice", the cycle of appointments with experts in scientific research and exploration to tell the story of glaciers as an ecosystem, memory of the past and sentinel of the future. The exhibition is part of the MUSE initiatives for the International Year for the Conservation of Glaciers.

The 2025 autumn edition offers three thematic dialogues and a projection-event, in a programme that intertwines glaciology, hydrology, natural history and exploration, with an accessible and multidisciplinary language.

It begins on Wednesday, October 15 at 6:00 pm with "Exploring the Upside Down. Ice caves and glaciers in caves", a journey into the heart of the Earth, among spectacular and still little known environments. Francesco Sauro (professor at the University of Padua and president of the La Venta Geographical Exploration Association), Leonardo Latella (zoologist at the Natural History Museum of Verona) and Christian Casarotto (glaciologist at MUSE) will accompany the public to discover the ice caves and glaciers in the cave, extreme and fragile ecosystems that preserve an unexpected biodiversity and precious geological evidence.

The second event will be held on Wednesday 22 October, again at 6 pm, with the meeting "Glaciers and fresh water: future perspectives", dedicated to the increasingly critical link between the melting of glaciers and the availability of water resources. Guglielmina Diolaiuti (University of Milan glaciologist), Alberto Bellin (University of Trento hydraulic engineer) and Valeria Lencioni (muse hydrobiologist) will offer a multidisciplinary look at the concrete consequences of climate change, from the Alps to the Himalayas, and the challenges related to the global water crisis.

We continue on Wednesday 5 November 2025 with "Life on the edge: the biodiversity of glaciers", a meeting that shines a spotlight on an invisible but vital world: that of the organisms that live on the surface and on the edge of the ice. Roberto Ambrosini and Marco Caccianiga (University of Milan), in dialogue with Mauro Gobbi (MUSE), will talk about a highly specialised animal and plant biodiversity, now seriously threatened by the rapid melting of glaciers and rising temperatures at high altitudes. At the opening of the meeting, Renato Dalpalù, president of Coop Trentino, and MUSE researchers Andreaa Cristina Bonciu and Francesco Simone Mensa, whose research contracts were co-funded by Coop Trentino, will share discoveries and emotions in studying the biodiversity of glacial environments, ecological networks and associated ecosystem services.

The program will close on Sunday, November 9, with the screening of the documentary "Ferdasky Glacier Expedition – The crossing of the Vatnajökull", which tells the story of a team of explorers' 2024 adventure: a 14-day autonomous crossing of the largest glacier in Europe, in Iceland. An experience of resistance and solidarity that will also be told through the direct voice of the protagonists Roberto Ragazzi and Roberto Fantoli present in the room. The expedition, supported by the national CAI and in collaboration with the Festival dei Laghi Lombardi, supports the From Ice For Life project, aimed at ensuring access to drinking water in Burundi.

All appointments are free with a reservation on Ticketlandia.