Italian research and development in space weather and space climate: a state-of-the-art overview

This article presents a concise overview of research developments and advancements in space weather and space climate, with a specific focus on the significant contributions made by members of the Italian Space Weather Community (SWICo). We highlight their achievements in instrument development, observational techniques, and modeling. Furthermore, we introduce a special collection of papers within this journal, entitled "Frontiers in Italian Studies on Space Weather and Space Climate." This collection features a selection of research articles and presentations from the Second and Third SWICo Congresses, held in Rome in February 2022 and November 2024, respectively, and hosted by the Italian Space Agency.