The eleventh episode of La Fabbrica delle Stelle is set in the heart of the University of Padua, in Palazzo Bo, where the history and future of physics come together. Our colleague Piero Martin, the guide of our video series, speaks in an iconic place for world physics. Piero stands in front of the chair from which Galileo Galilei taught in his years at the University of Padova (from 1592 to 1610). An experiment that will be one of the major players in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion has recently originated from the creativity of Italian physics and engineering. It is called DTT (Divertor Test Tokamak). The tokamak is the main toroidal magnetic configurations (the donuts!) where fusion is studied, while the divertor is a part of the experiment in which a fraction of the energy coming out of the device is conveyed. These energy flows are very high - in a reactor they will be of the order of magnitude of those at the surface of the sun - and must therefore be managed with great care in order to effectively achieve fusion. DTT will be used to study how to "harness" these fluxes of energy and particles. These energy fluxes are very high, similar to those we can find on the sun surface. Dtt will be based in the Frascati Enea site and will come into operation around the end of 2026. Dtt will be crucial for the fusion community not only in Italy but also in Europe and worldwide. For its construction, the Dtt sca rl (Consortium for the implementation of the Divertor Tokamak Test Project) was established, which currently has Enea as partner with 75% of the shares, Eni with 25% and the Create Consortium with 1%. New members should soon join the Dtt s.c.a r.l, including the Rfx Consortium. Dtt will play a very important role both to clarify essential elements on the physical processes that regulate the management of large energy fluxes from the plasma edge and to support the research that will be conducted in Iter in order to achieve its important fusion objectives. 

Project manager: Francesco Suman Shooting and editing by Elisa Speronello Subs: Anna Bellettato Location: Palazzo Bo, Padua