'Future Technologies': When Italian Science Inspires Science Fiction

"Technologies of the Future," the new volume in the Urania Speciale series (no. 48, July 2025), edited by Marco Passarello, is available at newsstands and as an ebook. The anthology brings together thirteen previously unpublished Italian science fiction stories, the result of an ambitious editorial project: to bring narrative imagination into dialogue with the most advanced research at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). The volume—also available as an ebook—is currently available at newsstands. The preview presentation of the work took place on June 21st in Perinaldo (Imperia), during the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the birth of the astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini.

"Thirteen interviews with IIT researchers have been transformed into thirteen original stories," explains curator Marco Passarello. "The result is a collection that blends science and imagination, a project also inspired by 'Hieroglyph,' the American anthology born from a dialogue between sci-fi authors and scientists at Arizona State University. After years of work and two anthologies published by Delos Digital, that spark has now been transformed into a Urania book."

The book ranges from virtual reality and robotic exoskeletons to bioengineering, walking cities, edible electronics, AI, and nanotechnology, thanks to the writings of some of Italy's finest science fiction authors: Paolo Aresi, Lukha B. Kremo, Franci Conforti, Alessandro Vietti, Irene Drago, Alessandro Forlani, Serena M. Barbacetto, and others. The book concludes with a tribute to the 25-year collaboration between Urania and illustrator Franco Brambilla, featuring a lengthy interview by the Uraniamania community. 'Technologies of the Future' aims to be a narrative laboratory, a window onto what we could become. A celebration of science, imagination, and the future.