The VLT and AGN feedback: a successful story

Theoretical arguments suggest that the energy released by the black hole at the center of most galaxies may play an important role in shaping the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) and consequently regulating the accretion onto the central SMBH itself and the evolution of its host galaxy. In particular, AGN-driven, galaxy wide massive outflows as well as AGN-driven jets may be fundamental processes affecting the bulk of the baryons in the universe. The instrumentation of the VLT has played a pivotal role in tackling what it remains one of the most burning open topics in modern astrophysics. The observational challenge has been ( and it still is) deriving detailed properties for the AGN driven outflows as a function of SMBH properties and covering a wide range of cosmic epochs. The combination of statistical studies on a wide range of redshifts using long-slit spectroscopy (e.g. VIMOS) and detailed kinematical studies on smaller sample of galaxies with IFU (e.g., SINFONI, MUSE, ERIS) it has been pivotal to the progress that we have made in understanding the physics of these phenomena and their possible impact in the overall evolutionary history of massive galaxies. I will present an observational journey through these results as a tribute to all the people that have contributed to the VLT programme.