It is a real pleasure for us to introduce this special issue of JBIC dedicated to Ivano Bertini, which has been realized thanks to the initiative of the Editor-in-chief Larry Que. The two of us helped in the organization of the issue which, as it can be seen, gathers a number of stimulating contributions, either as research articles or reviews, covering many aspects and topics relevant to the field of Biological Inorganic Chemistry.

Ivano was known to many and had many friends, especially in the field of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, and therefore it was difficult to draft a list of only 20 colleagues to contribute to this issue. We take this opportunity to apologise immediately to the many others who might have been equally qualified, both as Ivano鈥檚 friends and as eminent scientists, to feature in this volume.

Since Ivano left us, almost 2聽years ago, there have been many initiatives to honor his memory, from dedicated talks at conferences, to obituaries in several international journ