🐞 ENTOMODENA SEPTEMBER 2026
International meeting of entomology, malacology and invertebrates
📍 Modena – Polisportiva Saliceta San Giuliano
Strada Panni 183, Modena
📅 19-20 September 2026
🕘 Saturday 09:00-19:00 | Sunday 09:00-13:00
🎟️ Free admission – voluntary donation
🔎 WHAT YOU WILL FIND
Hundreds of exhibitors:
🐞 Collecting
🕷️ Live and captive-bred arthropods
🤝 Associations
🔬 Research institutions
🖼️ Exhibitions
🎤 CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS
🔴 Saturday 19 September – 10:30 AM
FRANCO RASETTI AND THE WORLD OF INSECTS
The passion of a nuclear physicist for Entomology: Franco Rasetti, a member of the group of scientists who went down in history as the “Via Panisperna Boys”.
Roberto Casalini – CESVOL UMBRIA ETS EDITORE
🟢 Saturday 19 September – 11:30 AM
BUTTERFLIES OF ITALY
Identification, juvenile stages, ecology and distribution. An innovative volume on Italian butterflies.
Paolo Paolucci – WBA Project srl Impresa Sociale Unipersonale
🔴 Saturday 19 September – 2:30 PM
DISCOVERING MANTISES
The first volume in Italian entirely dedicated to mantises, featuring an updated checklist of mantis species found in Italy.
Antonio Fasano – Natura Edizioni Scientifiche di Alfonso Iorio
🟢 Sunday 20 September – 10:00 AM
AROUND THE WORLD AT THE TABLE… WITH INSECTS!
Stories of travels and tastings across the five continents with a food-travel journalist.
Vittorio Castellani, aka Chef Kumalé
🔴 Sunday 20 September – 11:00 AM
PRESENTATION OF THE BHUTANITIS LUDLOWI PROJECT
Enzo Moretto, naturalist, entomologist and director of the Esapolis Museum, will recount his journeys through Bhutan in search of the extremely rare Bhutanitis ludlowi, one of the world’s most fascinating and mysterious butterflies. A journey that has led to a conservation project involving the Esapolis Museum, Kheprica APS, Butterfly Arc and the Institutions of Bhutan.
🔬 LABORATORIES AND WORKSHOPS
⚠️ The workshops are free but places are limited: arrive on time!
🧫 “It’s not just soil”
Hidden life in the soil: let’s discover together the animals that live there. Direct observation of soil animals under a microscope.
Workshop for adults, teenagers and children.
Saturday 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM; 2:30 PM – 6:30 PM; Sunday: 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
Organized by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE): Tiziana Altiero (Department of Education and Humanities, DESU); Andrea Gambarelli (Museum System and Botanical Garden, MuseOmoRE); Ilaria Giovannini and Viola Filippini (Department of Life Sciences, DSV); Gianluigi Prato (DSV & DESU, UNIMORE – DISTeM, UNIPA).
🐝 Bee-Hero: a buzzing mini world
The fate of the planet in a small hexagon. A workshop to understand how a beehive is structured and why bees are the true heroes of biodiversity.
Organized by the Museo del Cielo e della Terra of San Giovanni in Persiceto.
🎨 1000 hands for a work of art
500 drawings to colour and cut out, creating a new and fascinating swarm featuring butterflies, leaf insects, ladybirds and snails.
Organized by Vivi col Sorriso APS.
🌳 The biodiversity of wood
A wood library with more than 150 samples of Italian and foreign woods, plus a demonstration of woodworking to make… a toy.
Organized by Maurizio Bianchi.
🌡️ Climate in the balance
A preview of the exhibition dedicated to climate change through data, measurements, fake news, conflicts, choices and biodiversity, from 17 October at the Museo della Bilancia.
Organized by the Museo della Bilancia of Campogalliano.
🔬 Microwonders – Nature under the microscope
What is hidden in a drop of water or on the surface of a leaf? In this microscopy workshop, children will discover the magical world of the infinitely small.
They will learn, in a simple and fun way, how to use this extraordinary instrument and how to observe details invisible to the naked eye.
Saturday 19 September 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Organized by Cristian Gori.
🦴 Fossils: real or fake?
Children will discover what fossils are, how they form and why they are important for reconstructing the history of the Earth. They will learn to distinguish authentic fossils
from imitations and to recognize the main clues for avoiding scams. Finally, the workshop will conclude with a small replica of an authentic fossil!
Saturday 19 September 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Organized by Cristian Gori.
🦋 The butterfly festival
Creative workshop to give shape to a world of fantasy and colours.
Saturday 19 September – 10:00 AM
Sunday 20 September – 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM
Organized by CeciCrea.
🪲 The museum of living insects
Let’s discover up close the secrets of the most fascinating invertebrates on our Planet! A journey to get hands-on with animals with 0, 6, 8 and 1,000 legs!
Saturday 19 September – 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Organized by Eleonora Tomasini.
🐚 Shells: discovering the treasures of the sea
Saturday 19 September – 10:00 AM, 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM
Discover, search for and collect shells, with insights into biology, history and respect for the sea.
Organized by Malacologia dell’Adriatico di Livio e Delio Mancini.
This workshop is the only one open to children over the age of 7.
For this workshop only, booking is required by contacting Delio Mancini at 351 595 9667.
Please do not contact him regarding the other workshops, as they all offer free admission.
🖼️ EXHIBITIONS
🦗 Lorenzo Possenti
Exhibition of some large models by the Tuscan artist and naturalist, faithfully reproducing known insect species.
🐜 Social insects
Exhibition of ant farms belonging to members of the Forum Formicarium, an educational beehive and beekeeping tools, curated by beekeeper Giovanni Lazzari.
🍄 The fungi of our Apennines
The traditional autumn exhibition of fresh mushrooms returns, curated by the Gruppo Naturalistico Modenese ODV.
🦈 Sharks: jaws from around the world
There is a particularly close relationship between sharks and molluscs. What is it? Come and discover it at Entomodena!
Exhibition curated by the Museo Malacologico di Cupra Marittima.
📸 One moment… one emotion
Photos by Marco Tondi, Pietro Zanardi, Paolo Martinelli and Mirco Sarti.
Here you can browse the flyer for this edition