The concepts of physics are sometimes considered hard to understand and/or remote from everyday experiences, so INFN has searched for ways to make physics more intelligible and usable. It has hence experimented over the years, not only with new languages for communicating scientific ideas, but also with new relationships outside the scientific domain with individuals, institutions, and sites involved in cultural matters. Fruitful relationships have been established with museums, theatres, cultural centres, festivals, and other research bodies with the aim of promoting intercultural exchange between scientists of different disciplines, humanists, artists, and experts in various sectors of social life.