He graduated in Geological Sciences from the University of Padua in 1994 and received his PhD in "Space Science and Technology" from the same university in 1998. Since December 2002 he has been teaching "Geological mapping", "Satellite Remote Sensing" and "Planetary Geology" at the University of Padua. Since 2016, he has served as Scientific Coordinator and principal instructor for the ESA Astronaut PANGEA Geology Training Course. He has worked on several mapping and fieldwork projects in the Italian Alps, North Africa and South America, and contributed to fieldwork on the Brenner Basis tunnel project across the Middle Eastern Alps, where he also applied 3D geomodelling techniques. He was a team member of the following instruments installed on ESA space missions: SIMBIOSYS-BepiColombo (Project Scientist); CaSSIS-Exo Mars (Co-Investigator); OSIRIS-Rosetta (Associate scientist) and JANUS-Juice missions (co-investigator). He is the PI of the H2020-PLANMAP project (776276), which aims to produce innovative planetary geological maps and 3D geographic models to feed ESA archives and support future ESA missions on Mars, the Moon and Mercury. His research interests include planetary surface geology and geomorphology, structural and geological structure analysis, GIS, and geographic modeling for geological mapping and reconstruction of geological structures. He has chaired various EGU and EPSC meetings on these topics. Published 129 ISI/Scopus publications (41 on Earth science, 88 on solar system science) and 16 geological maps. H-index: 33. Awards: 2