November 1988: Degree cum laude in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Firenze.

March 1991 – April 1994: three-years scholarship for research activities in the PhD course on “Methods and Technology for Environmental Monitoring”, Interuniversity Consortium of Firenze, Basilicata, Genova and Pisa.

September 1994: PhD in “Methods and Technology for Environmental Monitoring”.

November 1994 –October1995: post-doc at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA).

May 1995 – April 1997: post-doc scholarship at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Firenze.

November 1997 –January 2001: Assistant professor of Hydraulic Structures at the Department of Civil Engineering,University of Florence.