There was a time when talking to people about the Institute we work for evoked, in the best cases, the image of a bunch of nerds engaged in remote science. In worst cases, our Institute was associated to mysterious or even dangerous science. Back then, the scientific and media success of discoveries such as the Higgs boson and the gravitational waves was far from coming. Fundamental physics, the excellence of the research conducted by our Institute and its roots firmly set in the prestigious tradition of Enrico Fermi were almost unknown. What can an institution do to build a new image of itself? Which strategies to adopt to gain a positive public value? Today we think it is time to wonder whether, without ten years of investment on communication and dissemination of scientific culture, the media response at the national level of such discoveries would have been the same. Would there be the same public perception of the role of our researchers in the conquest of these historical milestones of physics? Communication experts and researchers have been working together during these years on a new image of the Institute. On the researchers’ side, terms such “accountability”, “investment”, “return on scientific research” became part of the discussion, and the scientific community became aware there is a public outside. A curious public willing to engage in discussion, interested in getting in direct touch with the “science makers” and in knowing the researchers’ daily work. Ten years later many things have changed, here it is how it happened. 

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