Profile (short bio)
Botanist and Curator at the Botanic Garden and Museum of the University of Pisa, with research interests in floristics, ex situ conservation, plant documentation systems, and the management of historical botanical heritage.
Education
- 2019: PhD in Biology, University of Pisa, with a project entitled “Designing and comparing novel methods in floristics: a case study in Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli”. Discussed on 02/04/2020. Grade: Excellent with honors
- 2016: Master’s Degree in ‘Conservation and Evolution’ (Natural Sciences), University of Pisa, with evaluation 110/110 with honors
- 2012: Bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences, curriculum “Control and management of the natural environment”, University of Pisa, with evaluation 110/110 with honors
Other training
- 2024: 70-hour course organised by the Italian Ministry of Culture: “Beyond the Garden. Maturing skills” (care and management of historical gardens)
- 2009: Qualification as Nature & Walking Guide (Tecnico qualificato Guida Ambientale Escursionista)
Professional and Research Experience at University of Pisa
- 2021–present: Permanent position at the Botanic Garden, role: Curator.
- 2019–2020: research contract for the project: “Cataloguing the herbarium collections at the Botanic Garden and Museum of the University of Pisa.”
- 2016–2019: PhD scholarship, Department of Biology
- 2015–2016: scholarship holder within PRA Project no. 2016_1: “Adaptive responses of endangered species to human impact.”
- 2014–2015: scholarship recipient for a project entitled: “Planting and monitoring experimental populations of Hypericum elodes and Symphytum tanaicense in the San Rossore estate (Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli Regional Park)”
Collaborative Projects
- Contributor of Wikiplantbase #Toscana
- Editor of Wikiplantbase #Parco MSRM (Migliarino – San Rossore – Massaciuccoli Regional Park)
- Italian loci classici for non-endemic vascular plants described from Italy (Gruppo Floristica, Sistematica ed Evoluzione della Società Botanica Italiana)
- Typification of the names described by Gaetano Savi
Conference Presentations (International)
- “Bringing Nature Back: Restoring a former playground into a coastal Park with native flora“. EUROGARD X, Rome, Italy, 2025 [FILE]
- “The Botanic Garden and Museum of the University of Pisa: five centuries of botanical research, from simples to new frontiers“. II° International Congress of Historical Botanical Gardens, Wien, Austria, 2024 [FILE]
- “Luca Ghini and the origin of modern Botany: an Italian history of academic botanic gardens“. II° International Congress of Historical Botanical Gardens, Wien, Austria, 2024 [FILE]
- “The impact of climate change on the living collections of the Botanic Garden of the University of Pisa“. II° International Congress of Historical Botanical Gardens, Wien, Austria, 2024 [5-minute pitch, FILE]
- “A survey of ex situ conservation of Italian endemics in the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) network“. IX° INTERNATIONAL PLANT SCIENCE CONFERENCE (IPSC), Italian Botanical Society Congress, Pisa, Italy, 2023 [5-minute pitch, FILE]
- “The monumental trees of the Botanic Garden of Pisa“. International Conference on Monumental Trees, Palermo, Italy, 2022 [FILE]
- “Documenting, sharing, and disseminating plant collections: the experience of the Pisa Botanic Garden“. EUROGARD IX°, Budapest, Hungary, 2022 [FILE]
- “The Botanic Garden of Pisa: from the invention of the academic botanic gardens until today“. I° International Congress of Historical Botanical Gardens, Lisbon, Portugal, 2021 [FILE]
- “How many species should be there? A novel modeling approach applied to Euro+Med area to predict floristic species richness”. XVI° OPTIMA Meeting, Athens, Greece, 2019 [FILE]
- “More species, less effort: designing and comparing sampling strategies to draft optimised floristic inventories”. V° INTERNATIONAL PLANT SCIENCE CONFERENCE (IPSC), Italian Botanical Society Congress, Fisciano (SA), Italy, 2018
Memberships
- Società Botanica Italiana (Italian Botanical Society)
- Società Italiana di Biogeografia (Italian Society of Biogeography)
Analysis tools
ignobioR: R package for analysing spatial and temporal uncertainty in floristic mapping (link)