Born 1966 in Follonica (Grosseto), Italy. Study of physics and astronomy at the University of Bologna, Laurea (Masters) in Astronomy on “Radioastronomical Observations of Molecular Species in Star Forming Regions” in 1990, Ph.D. on “Nonthermal broadening of molecular lines and chemical processes in star forming regions” in 1994. Fellowships and visiting scientist positions at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, the University of Leeds, the University of California at Berkeley, and Harvard University. Since 2007, Professor of Astronomy and from 2009 to 2011 Head of the Astrophysics Group at the University of Leeds. From 2012, Courtesy Professor at the University of Florida, Department of Astronomy, and from 2014 Honorary Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Director and Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (since 2014).