Born in Rome in 1955. Maturità Classica (60/60) at the Liceo Mamiani, laurea in Fisica (110/110 cum laude) at the University of Rome, thesis on surface excitons under the supervision of M.Altarelli, F.Bassani and R. Del Sole. Since then employed at:

Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ (1979-1981); Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (1981-1982); Max-Planck-Institut, Stuttgart (1982-1984); CNR,Trento (1984-1988); Università di Trento (1988-1991); La Sapienza, Roma (1991-). Presently full professor.

My field is the theory of electronic states. In the early 80's I have contributed, with M.Schlüter and D.R. Hamann, to the development of electron-ion potentials which became quite popular (Pseudopotentials that work has more than 2300 citations* and is among the most cited 100 Physical review articles of all times). Then I worked in the groups of F. Bassani (Pisa), O.K. Andersen (Stuttgart) and G. Jacucci (Trento). I have used pseudopotentials for defects, surfaces and interfaces in semiconductors; here a first-principles theory contributed to a variety of experimental questions. The study of solids has led me back to atoms, to many-fermion and Density Functional Theory, and to numerical and mathematical methods, like pseudo hamiltonians for quantum Monte Carlo, in collaboration with D. Ceperley. In the last years my interest has extended to models of electron correlations: the 2D Hubbard Hamiltonian (of interest for high-Tc superconductors), and the homogeneous electron gas in three and two dimensions. My most recent studies concern the electron-phonon interaction in superconducting MgB₂, CaAlSi and new graphite intercalation compounds as CaC₆ on one hand, and on the homogeneous electron gas with modified electron-electron interaction (of interest for new formulations of the Density Functional Theory) on the other.