[1][2] The center curates and develops the Museum of Functioning Informatics of Palazzolo Acreide, where almost two thousand historical computers are not only exhibited, but also turned on and available for use by the public, both directly and remotely, via the Internet.
[3][4] More generally, FreakNet offers free IT services, software programs and IT training courses, and also organizes and hosts cultural and artistic events not strictly related to IT.
In 1995 Gabriele Zaverio (also known as Asbesto Molesto) decided to set up a place to experiment with open information technologies and obtained a space on the first floor of the AURO Social Center in Catania, which became the first physical location of the FreakNet.
Noteworthy are the recovery and cataloging works of the historical newspaper library of the Auro Social Center, which collects complete collections of newspapers from the 1930suntil the end of the sixties, as well as the first digitization works of historical works of Southern Italy, such as the volumes Historia di Sicilia and Messina noble city by Giuseppe Buonfiglio (edition of 1738 ) the volume Historia di Sicilia ( De Rebus Siculis ) by Tommaso Fazello (edition of 1628 ), and the eighteenth-century volumes Of the compendium of the Historia of the Kingdom of Naples by Mambrin Roseo da Fabriano and Delle Historie Memorabili de his times by Alessandro Ziliolo, as well as a "Campaign for conscientious objection to the use of closed software in universities" in March 2000.
During the first years of its existence, due to its sometimes provocative social activities and its political color, the FreakNet is often attacked by the authorities, who come to ask for its eviction; this request is however declared illegitimate and the sentence opens up a long history of legal appeals not yet concluded.