The educational objective of the Summer School on Mechanical Ventilation, to be held in Turin (Italy) on June 2011, will be to provide complete, up to date, and innovative informations on the clinical management of mechanical ventilation in the most common pictures of acute and acute on chronic respiratory failure. After having discussed the technical and physiologic basis of mechanical ventilation in the first part of the conference, internationally known experts will analyze the most advanced techniques of mechanical ventilation and their pathophisiology. Finally, in the third part of the Summer School , the most important and common clinical presentations of acute respiratory failure will be discussed both in terms of practical management and as applicative guidelines.