The day is finally here! I’m hitting the road with Editor-in-Chief Keith Hammond for Maker Faire Rome—an event I’ve wanted to attend for years. Why am I so excited?

1. As content lead for Maker Faire Bay Area, I am always on the lookout for new makers and community connections.
2. It’s Maker Faire’s landmark European event, and I can’t wait to see how they do it.
3. Frankly, everyone loves it!

I’ve done my homework with the map and exhibitor list, and I’ve picked my top ten must-see projects. This is a completely personal list, but I’ll tell you why each one stands out. Here they are, in alphabetical order for clarity!

14 Peaks, Free Solo, The Alpinist . . . no thank you. While I think climbing is an amazing sport and challenge, I cannot stomach these films—but if I knew they were using an ALPINE, that might change things. ALPINE introduces a novel solution to a long-standing challenge: How can you safely and efficiently perform complex maintenance tasks on steep, hazardous terrains like rock walls, where drones lack endurance and precision, and where traditional climbing robots are too slow or limited.

AMMILAB uses modern technology and ingenuity to conserve and revitalize pre-radio musical media. Their innovative projects, from custom scanners to listening stations, creatively bridge the gap between historical artifact and public engagement. I am hoping their project Puncher is there, as it reminds me of our nineteenth-century upright polyphone.

I’m dating myself, but I learned to drive in a Fiat Panda on the backroads of 1990s Kalocsa, Hungary—a thrill made sweeter because it would have been illegal back in the States AND without my parents’ knowledge. The Cyberpandino, however, is a different beast: a vintage vehicle upgraded with state-of-the-art electronics, already proven on road trials from Italy to Kazakhstan!

DeLucaLabs is a group of friends who turn their passion for tech into incredible collaborative projects. Their standout exhibit is a modified Telecaster guitar equipped with 818 RGB LEDs, creating a stunning light show that can be controlled manually or synced to music. Fingers crossed they also bring their mesmerizing nixie clocks—I’m a total sucker for them!

Growing up as a photographer’s daughter, my father’s darkroom was in the basement of our 1780s farmhouse. The DokaLab kit feels light years ahead. It delivers a simple, sustainable, and creative process with essentials made from biodegradable cardboard—a modern reimagining of a classic craft.

A new vision for education starting from robotics and AI, their mission says it all: “To make the world excited about the beauty, the fun, the importance, and the challenges of robotics and AI, through learning experiences that are tangible, accessible, and inclusive.”

Students from the Marconi Institute have channeled their passion for electronics and computer science into developing MRE, a semi-autonomous underwater rover. Utilizing AI and computer vision, the robot is designed to monitor seabeds and protect vital seagrass, like Posidonia Oceanica. Having previously created food waste monitoring systems, I am particularly interested in how this technology could be adapted for monitoring and conservation efforts on my local Grand Bahama Bank.

For three young students from Novara, the fight against breast cancer began in the classroom. Their project, “MAV d-IA-gnosis,” aims to use artificial intelligence for early detection, inspired by the millions of women facing the disease each year. Applying passion and rigor, they studied public datasets and trained convolutional neural networks to analyze medical images.

A visit to Italy would be incomplete without mentioning pasta. This device, a smart pot lid, is designed by a FabLab to monitor and perfectly cook pasta every time. I must confess, I am quite looking forward to sampling its capabilities this weekend.

A self-built, 3D-printed robot that interacts with its environment using cameras, sensors, and robotic arms. It exemplifies the “ maker journey” by synthesizing a wide spectrum of skills—from design and fabrication (3D printing, laser cutting) to custom electronics (PCB printing) and software (Arduino/Android)—into a single, innovative, and whimsical project. Kudos to its maker, Fabio!

That’s all for now folks it is time to pack!

Maker Faire Rome takes place October 17-19 this year and we’re stoked! The biggest Maker Faire in Europe, it’s a mind-blowing extravaganza of creativity and technology, featuring hundreds of amazing indie makers, smart startup ideas, favorite vendors like Arduino and Raspberry Pi, young engineers from universities all over Italy and Europe, and a heightened sense of art, style, and storytelling. I was lucky to attend for the first time last year with my co-editor David Groom, and it took us three days to see it all. If you get the chance, go! Here’s an early preview from the Maker Faire Rome team explaining that European flavor. —Keith Hammond, Editor-in-Chief, Make:

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Some events are uniquely capable of narrating the deep transformations shaping our society. Maker Faire Rome is one of them. Each year, it gathers thousands of people from across the globe in the heart of the Italian capital: students and teachers, makers and researchers, small enterprises and major international partners. But above all, it is the place where a powerful idea takes shape: technology can be human.

In 2025, Maker Faire Rome celebrates its thirteenth edition with over 1,500 projects submitted from more than 40 countries, currently under final review. The striking post-industrial setting of the Gazometro Ostiense welcomes an ever-expanding ecosystem of tangible innovation – the kind you can touch, test, discuss, and share.

The collective intelligence the event has nurtured over more than a decade stems from this openness – to people, to regions, to complexity. Here, technology is empathetic: every prototype tells a story, every stand becomes a space for dialogue, every maker is a witness to innovation that connects rather than divides.

While a segment of Silicon Valley envisions an economy detached from society and driven solely by disembodied efficiency, Maker Faire Rome presents a European model of inclusive innovation: schools collaborating with universities and multinationals, families engaging with researchers, institutions working alongside visionaries.

The European path to innovation

At a time when Europe is seeking its voice in the global conversation on artificial intelligence, energy, and sustainability, Maker Faire Rome offers a powerful and alternative narrative: not of algorithms deciding for us, but of communities experimenting together; not technology as an end in itself, but technique transformed into culture.

A living manifesto of technological humanism

Maker Faire Rome is a living manifesto of a new idea of technology: not machines replacing humans, but tools that enhance human capabilities. From sensors for sustainable agriculture to smart prosthetics for sport, inclusive communication apps to tactile maps for accessible museums – technology here is a relational tool, one that builds connections, solves problems, and makes the future more just.

It is no coincidence that such a wide variety of realities find space here: from students repairing vintage telephones to large stands hosted by multinational corporations, universities, and independent makers. This coexistence – far from discordant – faithfully reflects the modern world. The boldest ideas often emerge at the intersection of large and small, formal and informal, centre and periphery.

The stories that emerge at Maker Faire are powerful because they are rooted in everyday life: a teacher creating a STEM lab for neurodivergent children; a mother building inclusive dolls; a retired man automating a school greenhouse; a group of girls founding a carpentry and robotics workshop. Stories that speak of Italy, but also of a future in which technology is an ally to humanity.

Another model is possible

Perhaps the most important lesson Maker Faire Rome teaches is this: innovation is never neutral. It can serve the community or remain self-referential. It can exclude or include. It can concentrate in a few hubs or spread through a network of grassroots laboratories. Maker Faire Rome demonstrates that another model is not only possible – it already exists – where collective intelligence is the true driver of change.

Thanks to the Rome Chamber of Commerce, which has promoted and organised the event since 2013 with a public-spirited and systemic vision, Maker Faire has become an international point of reference for those who believe in ethical, open, and creative innovation. Innovation that doesn’t fear dirty hands, imperfect projects, or ideas born in a garage or a classroom – because that is often where the future begins.

And so, between an educational robot and a digital guide, a smart energy ecosystem and a food printer, a student-built rocket and an AI system for healthcare, what is truly celebrated at Maker Faire Rome is a festival of technological humanity. A technology that doesn’t steal our soul – but gives it back to us: amplified, shared, and conscious.

Maker Faire Rome will happen October 17-19, 2025. Find out more on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube.