Dr. Giacomo Valtolina, a physicist from the small town of Cornate d'Adda near Milan, has been granted a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant of €1.5 million. Dr. Valtolina's exceptional research project, "LIght for controlling Reactive Interactions in COld molecules - LIRICO," aims to revolutionize our understanding of ultracold chemistry and the behavior of molecules at temperatures close to absolute zero.