Full Professor of History of Medieval and Modern Law at the Faculty of Law of the Alma Master - University of Bologna since 2008. He has taught at the Universities of Modena, Roma (Luiss) and Udine. He holds courses in:
1. History of medieval and modern law
2. History of modern and contemporary law
3. Bio-criminal law
4. African Traditional law
Director of the Interuniversities Center for the History of Italian Universities (https://centri.unibo.it/cisui/it)
Director of the Center for Studies and Research for the History of Criminal Justice (Department of Legal Sciences - University of Bologna) (https://www.historyofcriminaljustice.org/)
Director (with Giampaolo Brizzi) of the six-monthly scientific journal "Annali di storia delle Universitá Italiane" (ed. Il Mulino)
Director of 2 series of monographs:
1. "Studi e Ricerche di storia dell'Universitá" (Il Mulino publisher, Bologna)
2. "Diritto, cultura, società. Storia e problemi della giustizia criminale" (Bononia University
Press, Bologna)
Coordinator of the Doctoral School of Legal Sciences (University of Bologna)
GEV for the scientific evaluation of area 12 in Italian universities (VQR 2011-2014)
Member of the commissions of university competitions and of the National Scientific Qualification.
Ministerial referee for the evaluation of PRIN, FIRB, SIR and other types of research projects.
Member (since 2014) of the University Research Evaluation Commission (CVRA), (2010-2013) of the Research Observatory, (2003-2008) of the university commission for guidance and tutoring in University of Udine.
Member of the scientific committee of scientific journals:
- "Crime, Histoire & Sociétés/ Crime, History & Societies"
- "Rivista di Storia del Diritto Italiano"
- "Historia et Ius"
- "Archivio storico del Sannio"
- "Diritto penale XXI secolo"
- "Beccaria. Histoire du droit de punir"
- "Iurisdictio. Storia e prospettive della giustizia"
- "Archivio Giuridico Filippo Serafini"
- "Fundamental Rights. Rivista di studi giuridici, storici e antropologici"
Member of the scientific committee of the series of monographs:
- "Strumenti di storia del Friuli" (Casa Editrice Forum, Udine)
- "Intuitus Iuris" (ESI edit.)
- “Un’anima per il diritto: andare più in alto”
- “Historia et Ius”
Member of:
- Società Italiana di Storia del Diritto (Torino)
- Société d'Histoire du Droit (Paris)
- Catedra Inocencio III" (Murcia)
- Society for Medieval Canon Law (Berkeley)
- Renaissance Society of America (Toronto)
- Istituto per la storia dell'Università di Bologna (Bologna)
- Accademia di scienze, lettere ed arti dello Scoltenna (Pavullo)
- Deputazione di storia patria per le antiche provincie modenesi (Modena)
- "Ius in fabula" (Università di Verona)
- Italian Society for Law and Literature (Bologna)
- Asociacion Ibero-Americana de Derecho Romano
- Accademia di scienze lettere e arti di Modena
- ASAI (Associazione per gli Studi Africani in Italia)
- Centro de Historia del Crimen (Durango)
- Centro di Studi Muratoriani
- Accademia delle Scienze di Bologna
He was Director of the series of monographs: 1) "Statuti comunali della Patria del Friuli" (Editrice Forum, Udine); 2) "Quaderni di Historia et Ius" (Pàtron editore, Bologna); 3) "Parerga Historiae et Iuris. Approfondimenti di storia del diritto, della cultura e della società" [con Giovanni Luchetti] (Patron Editore, Bologna).
Member of the teaching staff of the doctorate in legal sciences of the University of Bologna. He was a member of the teaching staff of the research doctorate in “Culture di frontiera” (University of Udine). He has been a member of judging panels for international doctorates (Pamplona).
University career and studies:
1. Luigi Galvani classical high school in Bologna;
2. Degree in Law (University of Bologna)
3. Giancarlo Sorbelli Prize [1985] (University of Bologna)
4. Vittorio Emanuele II Prize [1985] (University of Bologna)
5. Benedetto Prize [1985] (Subalpine Deputation of Homeland History of Turin)
6. Research grant [1982/1983]: "The law school in Bologna in the first half of the 16th century" [Institute for the History of Bologna]
7. Research grant [1985/1986]: "De salariis doctorum legentium Bononiae in iure tam civil quam canonico ab anno 1500 usque ad annum 1600" [C.I.S.R.];
8. PhD in history of law at the State University of Milan (1986-1989)
9. University researcher / Adjunct Professor (1990-2001) (IUS / 19) at the Faculty of Law of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
10. Associate Professor (2001-2005) (IUS / 19)
11. Full Professor (2005-2008) at the Faculty of Law of the University of Udine
12. Full Professor (2008- ...) at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bologna
He has been involved in research projects: 1. as scientific director of research units / MIUR [1998-2000] «Legal culture and philosophical culture in the 18th and 19th centuries»; 2. as scientific director of research units / MIUR [2002-2004] «Virtualium indicum analyticus index. Directory of medieval canonical manuscripts recorded in digital catalogs "; 3. as scientific director of the research unit / MIUR [2004-2006] on «The canonist and the witch»; 4. as head of a research unit / MIUR [2006-2008] on "The doctrinal foundations of criminal justice in the age of common law: the dialectic between science and legal practice"; 5. as national coordinator / MIUR 2008 on "The practice of justice in Italy between late common law and the age of codes".
He has been involved in the funded research program "Economic relations and institutional changes in the Upper Adriatic in the modern and contemporary age. Historical, legal and economic profiles" (2010-2011).
He has carried out research stays at numerous Italian and foreign centers, including the Universities of Paris, Wurzburg, Ilmenau, Zaragoza, Munchen, Madrid, Aix-en-Provence (archives coloniales)
Organizer of 21 seminars / conferences of national and international studies
Speaker at 155 national and international scientific Conferences/Meetings, in Italy and abroad