I am still recovering from the shock of coming back to grey, rainy London after spending last week among a superb group or researchers who decided to gather in a remote hotel/spa in the Tuscan mountains to discuss recent developments on speciation research. This was the second Speciation Gordon Research Conference (GRC). Although the GRC Board of Trustees doesn’t allow me to reveal anything that was presented in the meeting, nothing stops me from saying that I enjoyed the excellent talks on everything speciation. From empirical studies on model and emergent systems to theoretical and methodological developments. Topics included the genomics of speciation, hybridization, reproductive isolation, the micro-scale mechanisms as well as macro perspectives on speciation dynamics. This was the perfect opportunity to talk to authors about their research and to promote Nature Ecology & Evolution to this brilliant community. Here is a group photo. Cheers!