I have achieved the school-leaving scientific certificate in 1981, then I got a first Physical Education degree at ISEF (Physical Education Higher Institute) of Bologna in 1985, then I continued my studies by obtaining the Diploma of Special Education at the Gualandi Institute of Bologna in 1992, and, at the University of Bologna, in Pedagogy in 1998 and in Physical Education in 2000, with a dissertation about Pedagogy of sport; finally, in 2006 I got my PhD in Education with the doctoral dissertation: " Risky Training. The Body at Play and in the Educational Adventure", at the Department of Education.
My schooling has generally been accompanied by professional experience, carried out in two directions: in school teaching on the one hand, and through collaboration at university on the other. At school, I had my first experiences of teaching physical education, continuing in the early 1990s with support for students with disabilities. At the same time, I first had the role of teaching assistant for the chair of Athletics at the ISEF in Bologna; then, with the establishment of the 'Faculty of Physical Education', I held various roles as teaching assistant for the chairs of: Individual Sports, Adapted Physical Activities, Educational Science and Pedagogy of Play and Sport, Pedagogy of the Body and Psychomotricity.
As a competition winner in 2021, I am currently Associate Professor in M-Ped/03-Didactics and Special Education, and I teach Special Education, Motor Praxeology, and Outdoor Education at the Department of Quality of Life at the University of Bologna, where I am also Director of the Research Centre in Outdoor Education, Chairman of University Sports Committee, and member of the University Bioethics Committee.
I carry out my research activity at the Department for Quality of Life Studies based in Rimini, and member of the international research group "Jeux et Pratiques Ludiques" of the CEMEA (Paris) and of the Experiental and Outdoor Education Network - https://www.eoe-network.eu/.
