Physicist, I studied at the University of Florence and made my first approach to the research in optics in the group led by Prof. Giuliano Toraldo di Francia. After three years of fellowships at the University of Florence, in 1972 I got a permanent position at National Research Council of Italy (CNR). Since then, I have worked almost 40 years at CNR, in Florence and Rome. Among various duties, I was director of CNR National Group of Quantum Electronics and Plasma Physics (1983-1996), research director at IFAC - Nello Carrara Institute of Applied Physics (1991-2010), head of IFAC Optoelectronics and Photonics Department (1999 - 2005), director of CNR National Department of Materials and Devices (2006-2009). From February 2012 to February 2016 I was director of the Enrico Fermi Center in Rome. 

I now hold a position of senior associate scientist at IFAC CNR. 

I always did experimental research, first in optical holography and optical signal processing, and then in fiber and integrated optics, with particular attention to glass materials. My more recent interests concern optical microresonators and nanostructured materials, as well as the study of cosmic rays in the frame of the EEE (Extreme Energy Events) Project. My publication record includes more than 500 papers, most of them in relevant international journals, and several book chapters (for a complete list please look at ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6081-6971).

I have been/am member of the Editorial Board of several international journals, including Applied Optics, Asian Journal of Physics, Fibers, New Journal of Glass and Ceramics, Optical Materials, Optoelectronics Letters, Photonics Letters of Poland, Advances in Optical Technology. I was Associate Editor of Ceramics International. I have also been Guest Editor of several Special Issues of various international journals. I was editor of the book 'Glass Micro- and Nanospheres' (2019) and co-editor of various other books and many conference proceedings.

I have also taught for many years, as contract professor, at the University of Florence and at AILUN, a higher education institute in Sardinia. I was the supervisor of more than 20 MSc and PhD students in Italy and have been member of several PhD juries in Europe.

I was PI in several national and international projects in the fields of optics and photonics. I have been often asked to act as reviewer of research projects dealing with optics and photonics by public research agencies in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, South Africa, and Spain. 

I was Vice-President of IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics), and of ICO (International Commission for Optics). As a service to optical community, I was co-founder and then President of the Italian Society of Optics and Photonics (SIOF); member of the founding committee and then Secretary of EOS (European Optical Society); member of the Board of Directors of SPIE. For several years I was chairman of Technical Committee TC-20 (Glasses for Optoelectronics) of the International Commission on Glass.

I have given many invited lectures at international conferences, and have been chair or co-chair of several national and international conferences. Together with Maurizio Ferrari (IFN CNR, Trento), in 2005, I was founder of the workshop series on Photoluminescence of Rare Earths (PRE), and we are now its honorary chairs. 

I am President of COST01 (aka Fotonica.it), a no-profit scientific association I co-founded in 2001 to promote optics and photonics at national and international level. Fotonica.it has been the sponsor of various international events.

I am Fellow of EOS, Optica, SIOF and SPIE, and Meritorious Member of Italian Physical Society (SIF). In 2002, I was awarded the Turner prize of the International Commission on Glass. In 2024, SIOF presented me a career award.