Nobel prize-winning mathematician John Nash, who fought schizophrenia and inspired a Hollywood film, can now take credit for doing something really hard — making Italians like maths.

The 79-year-old is back in Rome for the second edition of a maths festival that drew 60,000 visitors last year and has, according to organisers, fuelled a maths boom in Italy.

At the four-day event, which ends on Sunday, the man who heard imaginary voices for years and was played by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, heads a line-up of writers and musicians all seeking to explain the importance of math.

“The idea of the festival is to present it in a more interesting way without dumbing things down,” said Italian mathematician and festival director Piergiorgio Odifreddi.

Mathematician Alfio Quarteroni will explain the mathematical secrets behind last year’s America’s Cup-winning yacht; economist Amartya Sen is discussing the equations that govern famine; while world record juggler Allen Knutson is also revealing the computer programs he wrote to help him keep “more balls in the air”.