  Cosmological LambdaCDM TreeSPH simulations of the formation and evolution of
galaxy groups and clusters have been performed. The simulations include: star
formation, chemical evolution with non-instantaneous recycling, metal dependent
radiative cooling, strong star burst and (optionally) AGN driven galactic super
winds, effects of a meta-galactic UV field and thermal conduction. We report
results on the temperature and entropy profiles of the ICM, the X-ray
luminosity, cold fraction, M/L and IMLR ratios in gas and stars, metal
abundances and gradients. Besides, the properties of the galaxy populations in
the two richest clusters are discussed: global star formation rates of the
cluster galaxies, the total K-band luminosity, the galaxy luminosity functions
at z=0 and their redshift evolution, the colour-magnitude relation (``red
sequence'') as resulting from metallicity effects, and the role of the IMF in
reproducing colours and abundances of the stellar populations. Finally the
contribute (20-40 %) to cluster light from the intra-cluster stars and the cD
galaxy has been investigated: surface brightness profiles, mean colours and
chemical abundances, kinematics (velocity dispersion and distributions) of the
IC stellar populations.
