This small territory of the Genoese hinterland, the Scrivia river valley, has a special connection with Space. Busalla, main hub of the Scrivia Valley, is the town where Franco Malerba, the first Italian astronaut, was born. He participated in a mission in space in 1992 aboard the shuttle Atlantis as Payload Specialist. Today Franco Malerba is once more with as the organizer and mastermind of the Busalla Space Festival (www.festivaldellospazio.com), a successful event of popular science, open to all, dedicated to space exploration.
The Space Festival, held every year in Valle Scrivia with the support of the space industries and the Italian national institutions, contributes to broaden the boundaries of knowledge and motivate young people to engage in the study of scientific subjects, without losing sight of the values of their origins.
All the speakers attending the Festival are given a souvenir of engraved slate from Cicagna, a bottle of excellent white GAVI Docg wine and a small bottle of rose syrup from Camporotondo.
"Il Vessillo della Rosa dell'Alta Valle Scrivia"
This symbolic “space bond” of the Scrivia Valley Rose was renewed and reinforced by the astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who took a banner of the Rose aboard the International Space Station during his third space mission in 2017 and sent a video down to Earth, to the Festival, as a sign of appreciation of the Festival and endorsement of the Rose. The video of the rose floating in weightlessness in the ISS Cupola, while flying around the Planet, is an extraordinary debut in space for the Scrivia Valley Rose.
