DevFest Modena 2026.

05/10/2026
Tags: DevFest , AI , Vibe Coding

DevFest Modena 2026

Yesterday, I returned from DevFest Modena 2026, organised by GDG Modena. Two days packed with conversations, talks and workshops, featuring over 60 speakers.

The main theme?

AI.

I’d like to thank all the speakers who gave me two days of full immersion in the world of AI, helping me discover so many interesting things and see these technologies from a different perspective.

Fabio Biondi for the talk "Generative UI: The Era of Static Interfaces Is Over!" and for the enjoyable conversation about the value and future of AI from a freelancer’s perspective.

Riccardo Carlesso for "Keynote: The Day I Left My Linux Machine Running: A Love Story with OpenClaw & Hermes".

Camillo Bucciarelli for "Put an LLM in Your Pocket: Offline Generative AI on Smartphones with Flutter". I think Cactus is a very interesting framework worth keeping an eye on, and that SLMs will continue to gain ground, taking market share from LLMs.

Matteo Baccan for "OpenSpec: Spec-Driven Development in the Age of AI Agents" and for the guidance on developing projects properly and minimising hallucinations in code.

Roberto Ceschina for "AI Takes Shape: A Workshop Using the Lego Serious Play Method": a really interesting workshop. I have a feeling that Lego Serious Play is going to become a permanent part of my life! :)

Matthew Christiansen for "Beyond the Prompt: Building Scalable Web Applications with AI Governance", for the "Leonardo" agent :) and for some interesting insights into Gemma 4.

Marco Pollacci for "MCP: The Silent Colleague Connecting Your Services to AI" and for introducing the world of MCPs in simple terms. Essentially, a kind of API for AI! :)

Giovanni Caristi for "Adventures in Vibe Coding". A heartfelt thank you for sharing your adventure with us.

It was a very productive weekend. I came back with a wealth of new things to explore and try, and a million ideas that, thanks to AI, now have a better chance of coming to life instead of ending up on a shelf labelled "for later".