In memory of Giorgio Celli (1935 - 2011)

It was thanks to Giorgio that the project investigating
the bee as an environmental sentinel for the presence of
pesticides, radionuclides, heavy metals, etc. became a
point of reference for the whole of Italy and a model for
the development of similar programmes internationally.
The project began about forty years ago and involved
various collaborators including Dr Claudio Porrini (the
most assiduous of them all and still today fully involved
in the issue of defending bees against the dangers resulting
from environmental pollution). Giorgio focused on the ethological side of apidology and in particular studied the visual perception of honey bees and bumble bees.
And Giorgio’s interests could not help but include
(starting from the ‘70s) the protection of the honey bee,
unfortunately still very much prone to suffering from
the harmful side-effects of pesticides, at both acute and
sublethal levels.

In his book “La mente dell’ape” [The honey bee’s
mind], published in 2008, he tackles the dramatic topic
of pesticides in an amiable and down to earth manner:
here again I will quote, word for word, what Giorgio
tells us through the mouth of Sherlock Holmes: “The
diffusion of molecules, old and new, that for over fifty
years have invaded the cultivated field, contaminating
the entire territory, is preparing the way for an ecological
catastrophe. Consider also that, like the cultivated
field, the hive too is subjected to numerous chemical
treatments, to combat unwelcome visitors to the bee’s
home. This flood of chemicals can only have brutal consequences
resulting from the simplification of biodiversity.
We notice the disappearance of bees because we
breed them, but how many other beneficial insects are
vanishing? In the spring we just see the occasional erratic
butterfly flying around”.