The aim of this international conference is to bring together observers and theorists to discuss the formation and cosmic evolution of the most massive galaxies in the Universe, focusing on their mass and luminous structure, stellar populations, and the environments in which they live.

The most massive M* > (10)11 and oldest galaxies account for more than half of the total stellar mass in the local Universe. Their formation and evolution still represent an open contentious question in present-day astrophysics and cosmology. Recent observations have revealed the presence of massive quiescent galaxies even in the first cosmic epochs (out to z>4), representing a challenge for galaxy formation models: it is unclear how they became so massive  over such short timescales, how their stellar metallicity grew so fast to solar or supersolar values and, finally, what quenched these objects so quickly and efficiently. 

The main aim of this symposium is twofold: 

1. Review  results from the latest observations of massive quiescent galaxies in the Universe, from high-z to z~0; then,

2. Critically analyze to what extent state-of-the-art theoretical models of galaxy formation and evolution can reproduce observations.