Curriculum

* Birth: 30 January 1957 in Livorno, Italy.
* Graduation: July 1982, in Natural Sciences, at Pisa University, Italy (honours)

Academic positions

* Post-doctoral fellowship: 1983-1985, at the Plant Physiology Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, U.S.A. (responsible: Prof. William H. Outlaw)
* Botanic Garden Curator: 1988 – 2004, at the Botanic Garden of the Department of Botanical Sciences, Pisa University.
* Researcher in Systematic Botany: from 1 January 2005, at the Department of Botanical Sciences, Pisa University, then Department of Biology (from 1 January 2006).
* Associate Professor in Systematic Botany at the Department of Biology, Pisa University (from 1 November 2016).
* National qualification for full professorship in Botany (from 3 April 2018).

Teaching Assignments

* Botany and related subjects in undergraduate degree courses in Natural and Environmental Sciences, Ecological and Biodiversity Sciences, Biological Sciences, and in master degree courses in Biodiversity and Evolution, Science and Technology for the Environment, Marine Biology, Conservation and Evolution.
Supervisor of Bachelor, M.Sc. and Ph.D. thesis in Natural Sciences, Management of natural resources, Evolution and Conservation, Marine Biology, Environmental Sciences.

Research Projects

1. A.I.S.C. (Analisi Integrata del Sistema Costiero – Integrated analysis of the coast system), focussed at the coastal environment of Elba Island and Corsica;
2. DREAM (Divulgazione e Recupero delle Emergenze in Ambiente Mediterraneo – Popularization and recovery of outstanding components of the Mediterranean environment), co-financed by the EU within the framework of the Natura 2000 Network, aimed at proposed sites of community interest in the province of La Spezia (Liguria);
3. ENSCONET (European Native Seed Conservation Network), co-ordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with EU funds;
4. Italian Network of Seed Banks, named RIBES (Rete Italiana di Banche Semi per la Conservazione Ex Situ), of which he acts as president from 3 December 2005 to 2011.
5. Project of National Relevance PRIN 2007 entitled “Ex situ conservation and taxonomic, ecophysiologic, and genetic characterisation of threatened species of the Italian native flora”: responsible of local research unit, under the national coordination of Palermo University.
6. Conservation strategies of aquatic plants in “Padule di Fucecchio”of regional and community interest, in collaboration with the Research, Documentation and Promotion Centre of “Padule di Fucecchio” and with Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, funded by Region Tuscany.
7. Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, coordinated by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (UK). He acts as scientific responsible for the Department of Biology, Pisa University, 2012-2017.
8. AIS LIFE Aerobiological Information Systems and allergic respiratory disease management, coordinated by University of Florence (2014-2017). He acts as local project coordinator.
9. Tree Seed Collection Project, coordinated by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (UK). He acts as scientific responsible for the Department of Biology, Pisa University, 2014-2017.
10. MONITO-RARE, monitoring of species and habitats listed in the Habitats Directive, a project of Regione Toscana in collaboration with the Universities of Florence, Pisa, and Siena, coordinated by the University of Florence. He acts as scientific responsible for the University of Pisa, October 2017-December 2018.
11. NAT.NE.T (Natura2000 Network Toscana), monitoring of species and habitats listed in the Habitats Directive, a project of Regione Toscana in collaboration with the Universities of Florence, Pisa, and Siena, coordinated by the University of Florence. He acts as scientific responsible for the University of Pisa, June 2019-December 2021.

Research Interests

In his capacity as germplasm bank responsible (Department of Biology, Pisa University), he is involved in the safeguard of wild species of conservation interest, also in collaboration with the Seed Bank of the Regional Agency for Development and Innovation in Agroforestry (Camporgiano, LU).
He has authored or co-authored about two hundred publications on national and international journals, symposium proceedings and books, dealing with ex situ conservation, threatened species, Botanic Gardens, germination ecology, geographic and taxonomic distribution of chromosome numbers of the Italian flora, biodiversity informatics, evolution of orbicules in angiosperms and other land plants. He developed and is maintaining the following botanical databases:

1. Chrobase.it (www.biologia.unipi.it/chrobase/);
2. Wikiplantbase #Toscana (http://bot.biologia.unipi.it/wpb/toscana/index.html);
3. Wikiplantbase #Sardegna (http://bot.biologia.unipi.it/wpb/sardegna/index.html);
4. Wikiplantbase #Liguria (http://bot.biologia.unipi.it/wpb/liguria/index.html);
5. Wikiplantbase #Sicilia (http://bot.biologia.unipi.it/wpb/sicilia/index.html);
6. Wikiplantbase #Italia (http://bot.biologia.unipi.it/wpb/italia/index.html);

 Institutional assignments

1. Responsible of the Botanic Garden and Museum, Department of Biology, Pisa University (2007-2012).
2. Scientific responsible of the Botanic Garden and Museum, Museum System, Pisa University (2013-2015)
3. Member of the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Regional Park of Apuan Alps, as representative of Pisa University (2010-2012; 2018-2020).
4. Member of the Technical Regional Committee for protected areas, as representative of Pisa University (2010-2015).
5. President of Italian Network of Seed Banks, named RIBES (Rete Italiana di Banche Semi per la Conservazione Ex Situ), on behalf of the Botanic Garden and Museum, Department of Biology, Pisa University (2005-2011).
6. Scientific Director of Botanic Garden “Maria Ansaldi” at Pania di Corfino, LU (2013-).
7. Member of Scientific Committee of Hanbury Botanical Gardens, GE (2016-2018).
8. Member of the Scientific Committee for the renovation of the Botanic Garden of Bologna University (2019).

Scientific societies

Associate of the Italian Botanical Society, OPTIMA (Organization for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area), Tuscan Society of Natural Sciences.
Within the Italian Botanical Society, he is president of the Tuscan Section (2018-2020) and secretary of the Working Group for Botanic Gardens and Historical Gardens (1994-1998; 2015-2017; 2018-2020). He has served as representative of the Working Group for Botanic Gardens and Historical Gardens in the European Botanic Gardens Consortium (1994-2000).

Journals

Editor of the Proceedings of the Tuscan Society of Natural Sciences, Biological Series (Atti della Società Toscana di Scienze Naturali, Memorie, Serie B). The journal is indexed in Scopus.
Member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens.

Other

Speaks English fluently. Basic knowledge of French, Spanish, German, and Greek. Plays the classical guitar.