Guest editors' Preface

The present Special issue contains the Proceedings of the Italian Crystal Growth Conference 2013 (ICG2013) which took place in Parma on November 14-15 2013. It was the latest of a long series of crystal growth conferences organized since 1979, the previous one held in Parma in 2010, aimed to focus on the state-of-the-art and perspectives of crystal growth research activities in Italy.