BEE-GUARDS at Apimell: live from the hive! 🐝
The hive was buzzing last weekend! BEE-GUARDS landed at Apimell (Piacenza, northern Italy) — one of the biggest international beekeeping trade fairs, with nearly 140 exhibitors. Among them was the CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, whose team presented all the projects CREA is currently working on, including BEE-GUARDS.
The spotlight? Our citizen science activities — open to both beekeepers and the general public: innovative Varroa management and pollinator observations.
We handed out dozens of flyers and our special pollinator business cards, and the response was fantastic. With 24,000 visitors from across Europe — including Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Malta, and more — the buzz was real.
And we had a very special guest that stole the show: a stunning Vespa velutina nest — enormous, beautiful, and impossible to ignore. Everyone stopped to stare!
And leading the BEE-GUARDS team at the stand? The queen of the project — CREA’s Principal Investigator, Cecilia Costa, together with the rest of the BEE-GUARDS crew.
Both pictures: The CREA Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment team — including the BEE-GUARDS crew — at their Apimell stand. Communication posters, outreach materials, and of course, the star of the show: the Vespa velutina nest.