Costanza Toninelli, first researcher of the Cnr National Institute of Optics (CNR-INO) and LENS associated member, has received the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for the QUantum INTErfaceS with SinglE MoleCulEs (QUINTESSEnCE) project. The challenge is to exploit quantum effects in systems of increasing complexity such as molecules in the solid state, with the possibility of miniaturization and portability typical of integrated photonic devices. QUINTESSEnCE takes up the challenge, combining the extreme flexibility of molecular chemistry, which allows the creation of molecules with customized energy states, with the most advanced nanophotonic techniques. At the head of a multidisciplinary group made up of researchers from the CNR-INO and the Ugo Schiff Department of Chemistry of the University of Florence, Costanza Toninelli, carries out her activity in collaboration with the European Laboratory LENS and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Florence.