Giuliano da Empoli is a writer and journalist. He is chairman of the Gabinetto Vieusseux library in Florence and previously was Deputy Mayor for Culture of Florence (2009-2012), member of the executive board of the Venice Biennale (2007-2011), and senior advisor to the Italian Minister of Culture and Vice-Prime Minister (2006-2008). He graduated in law at La Sapienza University in Rome and earned his master’s degree at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Paris. He has published eight books and has been translated into several languages. Contro gli specialisti, was released in 2013.

Bridget Kendall is the BBC´s diplomatic correspondent. She is London-based and covers top foreign stories for radio, television and online news. She has a particular interest and expertise in Russia and East/West relations dating from when she was BBC Moscow correspondent at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union and then BBC Washington correspondent. She is also host of The Forum, the BBC World Service global exchange of ideas program, which brings together acclaimed thinkers from across national, social and cultural divides and explores and challenges theories, opinions and beliefs from around the world. Bridget was the first woman to win the James Cameron Award for distinguished journalism in 1992 and was made an MBE in the 1994 New Year´s Honors list. She was educated at Harvard and Moscow Universities as well as two Oxford Colleges, Lady Margaret Hall and St Antony´s College, where she is now an Honorary Fellow. She is also a Trustee of Asia House and a visiting professor of Journalism at Lincoln University.

Francesca Paci is an Italian journalist. She is special Middle East Correspondent for Italy´s La Stampa. She was stationed in Jerusalem between 2007 and 2009 and has been a Middle East envoy for La Stampa since September 11. She speaks Arabic and has written two books on Italian Islam. Ms. Paci collaborates with the Italian think tank Vision. In 2005 she was awarded the Marco Luchetta International Journalism Prize for her reporting on a tragic story of immigration from Romania. In 2007 she presented the television show Nirvana on Italy´s La7. Since February 2008 she has served as La Stampa´s London correspondent.

Max Rodenbeck began writing for The Economist in 1989. He has been Chief Middle East Correspondent since 2000, covering the region from Morocco to Iran and topics ranging from wars in Iraq and Lebanon to radical Islam, Arabic pop culture and the ancient art of distilling arak. A frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, his own book Cairo: The City Victorious has been published in eight languages.

Marcella Simoni , Ph.D. (London 2004), lectures at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Between 2004 and 2010 she taught at NYU in Florence. Her field of expertise is the Middle East in general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular about which she has published a number of books and articles in various scientific journals ; among them «Middle Eastern Studies», «Jewish History», «Passato e Presente» and others. She is currently working on the history of conscientious objection in Israel. She is also in the board of two journals “Passato e Presente” and “Quest – Issues in contemporary Jewish history”. Since 1998 she has extensive experience lecturing in international conferences and forums. Her research interests include civil society in Israeli-Palestinian history, history of medicine, and youth. She speaks English and Hebrew fluently and her Arabic reaches an intermediate level.