Graduated in Political Science at the University of Bologna in 1992, with 110 cum laude, with a thesis on medieval guilds in Mantua;
- Phd at the L. Bocconi Commercial University in economic and social history in 1997;
- Researcher of Economic History at the Department of Economics of the University of Parma in 2000;
- Associate Professor in Economic History at the Department of Economics and Business Sciences of the University of Parma since 2010.

Main research activities:
- History of economic institutions in the pre-industrial age
- History of local development and industrial districts after World War II
- Food History from the Middle Ages to the present day