Doctor in Geology at the University of Ferrara, 1981
Assistant at the University of Ferrara, 1981-1983
Researcher at the University of Ferrara, 1983-1992
Associate professor University of Bari 1992-1994
Full professor University of Basilicata, 1994-1997
Full professor Sapienza University – Roma, 1997-.

EXPERIENCE
Visiting researcher at the University of Basel, 1983-1984
Visiting researcher at the University of Oxford, 1985
Visiting researcher at the Rice University in Houston, 1988; 1992; 1994
Scientific party ODP Leg 161 in the western Mediterranean, 1995.

SERVICES
Member of the Tectonics Panel, Ocean Drilling Program, 1992-1994;
Chairman of the Geodynamics department at the University of Basilicata, 1994-1997;
Chairman of the scientific panel of the CROP project, 1999-;
Member of the Italian Geological Committee, 2003-;
Vice-President of the Italian Geological Society, 2003-2008
Editor-in-Chief of Terra Nova 2003-;
Associate Editor of Tectonics 2004-;
Editorial board Journal Structural Geology, 1987-2007; Bull. Soc. Géol. de France, 2000-2005; Compte Rendu Ac. Sci. Bulgare, 2006-;
Italian Journal of Geosciences, 2000-;
Coordinator project Sismologia 1 of the Italian Civil Protection, 2008-2010;
President of the Italian Geological Society, 2009-

RESEARCH ACTIVITY
– Structure and evolution of the Southern Alps and Apennines;
– Field work and Geodynamics of the Mediterranean;
– Relationship between tectonics and sedimentation;
– Asymmetry of orogens and foreland basins as a function of the subduction polarity;
– Proposition of a tectonic mainstream of plate motion;
– Evidences for the polarization of plate tectonics;
– Westward drift of the lithosphere and contribution of the Earth’s rotation on plate tectonics;
Research grants from EU, CNR, ASI, Miur, Sapienza University and oil companies.

AWARDS
Dal Piaz Award of the Italian Geological Society, 1986
Distinguished Lecturer dell’American Association Petroleum Geologists, US tour 1994
Spendiarov Award of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2004, 32° IGC.
Distinguished Lecturer dell’American Association Petroleum Geologists, Europe tour 2005
Member of the Academia Europaea, 2005;
Member of the Istituto Lombardo di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, 2006;
Member of the Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, 2007.
Alfred Wegener Award, European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, 2009
Premio Sapienza Ricerca 2009
Member of the Accademia dei Lincei, 2009
Member of the Accademia dei XL, 2011

RESEARCH INTEREST
Structure of the orogens and foredeeps
Mechanisms of plate tectonics
Westward drift of the lithosphere
Interplay between tectonics and sedimentation
Structure of the central-eastern Southern Alps
Structure of the central-southern Apennines
Interpretation of Crop seismic sections of the Italian seas
Geodynamics of the Mediterranean