Vincenzo Levizzani

research director National Research Council of Italy and lecturer in Cloud Physics University of Bologna

Former Director of Research at the CNR and Professor of Cloud Physics at the University of Bologna, he worked on the structure of precipitating systems, the physics of severe storms, satellite precipitation measurement and the climatology of the water cycle. He worked at EUMETSAT, ESA and NASA and contributed to the launch of satellites in Korea and Japan. He was a member of the WMO Commission on Atmospheric Sciences, the Advisory Council of the European Severe Storms Laboratory, the Int. Commission on Clouds and Precipitation and the GEWEX Hydroclimatology Panel. He founded the Int. Precipitation Working Group. He is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, a member of the American Meteorological Society and the author of more than 400 international papers and several books for Springer Nature. With Il Saggiatore he has published Il libro delle nuvole (2021), Piccolo manuale per cercatori di nuvole (2022), Quando fuori piove (2024) and Storia del mondo in 10 tempeste (2025), some of which have been translated into German, Spanish, English, Russian and Arabic.

Talks

Sat. 26 September

at 12:00 - 12:45

12:00 - 12:45

Saturday 26 September

Teatro Miela
Piazza Luigi Amedeo Duca degli Abruzzi, 3, 34132, Trieste, TS

TRIESTE

STORIA DEL MONDO IN 10 TEMPESTE

Rain, fog, wind, frost, drought. There is a silent protagonist that runs through the millennia and shapes the fate of humanity more than kings, generals or revolutions: the climate, with all its atmospheric envoys. “Storia del mondo in 10 tempeste” (A History of the World in 10 Storms) revisits the great events of the past from the unfamiliar perspective of meteorology, showing how often the meeting of human beings and destiny has been settled by unexpected natural phenomena. Napoleon had calculated everything: the dimensions of the plain at Waterloo, the placing of the artillery, the charge of the Guard. The one thing he had not allowed for was the storm that broke on the night of 17–18 June 1815, turning the ground to mud and forcing delays on the Emperor that proved decisive. Starting from episodes such as this one, Vincenzo Levizzani leads us through the centuries and recounts the many times human plans have collided with the fury of the elements. He shows how the weather has always acted as the invisible director of great events, and how it still does, shaping our habits, our economy and our culture. The book is also a reflection on ambition and humility: because often, when we imagine we are holding the reins of History, all we really have in our fist is a drop of rain.

Incontro con l'autore finalista

Vincenzo Levizzani

research director National Research Council of Italy and lecturer in Cloud Physics University of Bologna

Modera

Fabio Sottocornola

journalist Corriere della Sera

Location: Teatro Miela - Piazza Luigi Amedeo Duca degli Abruzzi, 3, 34132, Trieste

speakers