Again this year, on 16 February 2024, the University of Padua will join "M'illumino di meno", a campaign promoted by one of the national public service radio stations (Rai Radio2), aimed at raising public awareness on energy saving. For 20 years, the initiative has seen the participation of Italy’s most important institutions who choose to turn off the lights of the best-known monuments and buildings of the country. The 2024 edition proposes a focus on international alliances – all CA members and friends are invited you to join the initiative by switching off the lights of their buildings on 16 February!
For 20 years, the "M'illumino di meno" initiative has seen the participation of Italy’s most important institutions who choose to turn off the lights of the best-known monuments and buildings of our country, and it has recently become, by a unanimous vote of the Parliament, the "National Day for Energy Conservation and Sustainable Lifestyles". The 2024 edition proposes a focus on international alliances – all CA members and friends are invited you to join the initiative by switching off the lights of their buildings on 16 February!
If this proposal is of interest to you or your institution, we invite you to write an email to
About the intiative "M'illumino di Meno":
On 16 February 2005, when the Kyoto Protocol entered into force, Caterpillar, a daily show on Rai Radio2, came up with the idea of asking its listeners to turn off all unnecessary lights as a symbolic gesture for energy-saving. It suggested replacing incandescent bulbs with low-energy ones and, more generally, it encouraged a reflection, preferably a collective one, about energy consumption.
Back in 2005, the humankind was uncertain about its future as a species. Photovoltaic and wind energy were making progress, but were not yet widely accessible. Limiting the use of fossil fuels seemed unimaginable, and climate justice was not talked about.
From that moment onward, M'illumino di Meno has kept engaging people in a cheerful celebration of the environment, with no rhetoric and with a bit of humour.
In the past two decades, there has been significant progress in the environmental protection field: the European Union has set clear targets for energy conversion and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their research and communication on global ecology. In any part of the world, many have installed photovoltaic panels, while others have anticipated the establishment of Renewable Energy Communities.
M'illumino di Meno campaign by Rai Radio2 was unanimously voted by the Italian Parliament to become the National Day of Energy Saving and Sustainable Lifestyles.
Thanks to that institutional recognition, on 16 February 2023 Caterpillar was broadcast live from Palazzo del Quirinale, the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic.
Unfortunately the climate crisis is getting worse at a faster pace than people do realize. We can see the consequences everyday: heavy rainfall that the land can't soak up, unprecedented droughts and the hottest average temperatures on record.
Yet, technologies, objectives and methods to change our use of energy sources are available. Therefore, civil society needs to urge decision-makers to undertake bold measures, mitigating and preventing climate change and acting rapidly.
In its 20th edition, M'illumino di Meno invites schools, companies, universities, municipalities and the civil society to boost the change by making an extra effort to be more innovative and get committed. The ecological transition can save us as a species and has already recorded a positive impact on everyone's daily life.
The shift towards renewable energy is a transformation that we have to undertake together. This is because the air, oceans, mountains and forests have no borders and require a global action. In order to get prepared for M'illumino di Meno 2024, we must think ahead and remove barriers.
We invite everyone to establish international partnerships in one’s own community, such as municipalities’ twinnings or the participation in global school and university projects. By inviting expats and encouraging foreign communities to participate in M'illumino di Meno, we establish global partnerships consisting of joint experiences such as cycling rides, energy-saving events and candle light dinners.
While actively involving our network of foreign correspondents, we encourage all European and international radio stations to join us.
In the year of the European elections, M'illumino di Meno renews some prestigious alliances: with the Accademia dei Lincei and its twinned European Academies and with the European Parliament in Brussels, where Rai Radio2 is going to air a special episode of Caterpillar on World Radio Day (13 February). Moreover, ultracyclist Paola Gianotti will cross ten European borders from Helsinki to Paris, through Brussels, to spread the campaign and collect the best of European sustainable practices.
Turn off as many lights as you can and improve your environmental practices!
⧉ Read more (in Italian only)
