At the well attended first ever Italian Conference on Scientific Gemology in Rome last month, a keynote address entitled ‘Scientific Gemology: The State of Art’, was delivered by Brendan Laurs, editor of the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) Gems & Gemology (G&G). %% Laurs’ lecture explored several case studies, including country-of-origin determination for ruby and sapphire, characterization of the Wittelsbach-Graff and Hope diamonds, identification challenges associated with coated gems and identification of CVD synthetic diamonds. %% The Conference was organised by the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Sapienza University of Rome and Roma Tre University, and attended by Italian and European gemologists, researchers and university professors. A conference report is being published in the Gem News International section of the Summer 2010 issue of G&G, to be released in August.