Behind the Tour
The people, the story, and the original identity behind the tour.
Prof. Massimiliano Lega
Founder & Director, SAFE Tour
Prof. Massimiliano Lega is an internationally recognized expert in environmental, forensic, and aerospace engineering, a Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Naples Parthenope, and a Fulbright Institutional Delegate. He leads the SAFE (Situational Awareness for Environment) research team and directs advanced research laboratories dedicated to environmental monitoring, environmental forensics, and situational awareness.
His research focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to complex environmental challenges through integrated environmental monitoring, combining satellites, aircraft, drones, in-situ measurements, and bio-indicators into innovative multi-layer methodologies for detecting, characterizing, and documenting environmental contamination. Developed in close collaboration with governmental institutions and environmental authorities, these methods have been validated by Italian Government Agencies and are employed in official environmental forensic investigations, supporting the detection of pollution and environmental crimes.
For a complete biography, research activities, publications, and international collaborations, please visit www.massimilianolega.it.
Team
Behind every stage of the tour is a team of several people, working across science, production, and coordination. The team is directed by Prof. Massimiliano Lega — find out more about him and the SAFE Team & Labs here.
The Original Logo
Before the current visual identity, SAFE Tour carried a first mark: an elaborate, hand-illustrated lettering of the word “SAFE,” with every letter built from small drawings of the processes the tour explores — sensors, laboratories, control rooms, environmental monitoring in the field.
At the center of the S sits the mark's theoretical core: the three-tier model of situational awareness — Perception, Comprehension, Projection — the same framework the whole tour is built around. Inside the E, a different idea takes shape: hierarchical sensing, monitoring cascading from satellite, to aircraft, to drone, across rivers, lakes, and coastlines. Underneath, the motto “See the unseen” states the tour's guiding ambition in five words — technology extending perception beyond ordinary human senses.
At the base of the mark is not an illustration but a real photograph: a rare, toxic, red-pigmented cyanobacteria bloom, captured by drone as it meets the ordinary green of the sea. It is one tangible case behind the idea above it — proof that the tour's instruments read the environment before any stage ever does.
With thanks to
The tour would not be possible without the people and institutions who have supported it along the way. With thanks to:
- Nicole Lega
- Roberta Teta
- Fabrizio Curcio
- SAFE Team & Labs
- All diplomatic representatives involved in the tour's stages to date
Site design and content: SAFE Tour team. Original mark: Prof. Massimiliano Lega.