Twenty years of research, pursuing one clear and single-minded purpose: to offer the least of the sick the most excellent levels of care, as Saint John of God did when he invented the modern hospital, beginning with caring for the mentally ill in 16th century Spain.

What Istituto di ricerca e cura a carattere scientifico Fatebenefratelli di Brescia intended with the commemoration of this anniversary, in the Santa Giulia auditorium, by staging a high-level scientific meeting on the neurosciences, was to emphasise that 2016 was a normal, and yet an exceptional year: normal, in that it had continued engaging in scientific research into psychiatry and the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases associated with dementia; but exceptional, by virtue of the celebration of the 20^th anniversary on 19 December when the Istituto Sacro Cuore di Gesù became an IRCCS. “Every year, we treat over 6000 outpatients,” said Brother Marco Fabello – General Manager of the IRCCS, standing beside the Superior General of the Order, Brother Jesús Etayo Arrondo, “managing 10 units and five research services. We are a leading centre in the field of research and an international scientific centre and hospital with the mission of integrating clinical work and science.”

Welcome addresses were delivered by the local authorities: the Regional Officers, the President of the Province of Brescia, Municipal Officers, representatives of the local healthcare centres, the Rector of Brescia State University, and representatives of a large number of scientific institutions from the Lombardy Region.

In addition to the Prior General, the Order and the Province were represented by the General Councillor, Brother Giampietro Luzzato, the Provincial Superior of the Lombardy-Veneto Province, Brother Massimo Villa, the General Manager of the Provincial centre, Dr. Giovanni Maria Soro, and other key executives.

All the researchers of the IRCCS were naturally present in force, led by the Scientific Director, Stefano Cappa, who also briefly reviewed the work of the IRCCS.

At the end, after a Round Table on Neurosciences, the Prior General and the Provincial Superior awarded a prize to a well-established researcher, who had originally embarked on his research at our IRCCS, Professor Paolo Brambilla, “for his fundamental contributions to biological psychiatry, and in particular by applying neuroimaging methods, characterised by the highest degree of scientific rigour and care to apply it to clinical practice.”

Lastly, the representative of the Ministry of Health, with responsibility for Research, Dr Maria Novella Luciani, spoke about future developments in the reorganisation of the 49 IRCSS recognised by the Italian Ministry of Health.

On the following day, 17 December, there was an interesting open day for the students of six schools in Brescia, who were welcomed by the researchers and shown around the research laboratories to see for themselves the high level of technology with which the laboratories are endowed.

We can truthfully say that with the visit of the Minister of Health, Beatrice Lorenzin and the President of the Republic, Mattarella, this meeting worthily set the seal on an intense year of work, but also a year that has marked a new departure for an even better future, along the paths of Hospitality in the name of research.