In the last decade, international efforts have been focused on public engagement, to foster public involvement in the affairs and decisions of policy-makers and scientists, in order to open a mutual sharing of knowledge, values and beliefs. Our study describes a pilot experience of public engagement in a fringe field of biomedical research which involves caregivers of patients with Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS). For the 20th anniversary of Italian CdLS family's association, a workshop focusing on progress and advancement of biomedical research on CdLS was organized for families. At the end participants were invited to complete a 14-item questionnaire, developed using a mixed method strategy with both quantitative (closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) data. Parents reported an overall good opinion of biomedical research (81.1%), reported trust in biomedical research (78.4%), and concluded that the basic research is as important as the clinical research (64.5%). However, only 19.4% of parents reported they were satisfied with the communication between researchers and society, and only 13.5% had a good perception of the availability of economic resources for research. Caregivers identified 4 areas of priorities: heuristic, functional, altruistic, and supportive; they reported to be highly satisfied with the workshop for both increasing knowledge about CdLS research, and for building up a network with supportive functions. Public engagement is a good way to inform caregivers about basic research progress, but also for informing researchers on the public's views and concerns and for getting fresh and interesting perspectives.