Italian, born 1970.

After high school started at the Academy of the Italian Air Force and completed the basic training as a military pilot from 1989 till 1991.

Continued engineering studies at the Politecnico di Milano, graduated in Aerospace Engineering in 1995.

Worked at Fiat Avio from 1995 till 1999, mainly for the Vega launch vehicle and the Rosetta lander.

Joined ESA in 1999 as Rosetta operations engineer at ESOC.

After having launched Rosetta in 2004, nominated as Spacecraft Operations Manager for Venus Express, launched in 2005 and inserted in Venus orbit in 2006.

At the end of 2006 returned to Rosetta as Spacecraft Operations Manager, a role that he kept till earlier this year after Rosetta completed the hibernation phase.

Since 2013, Head of the Solar and Planetary Missions Division in the Mission Operations Department at ESOC.

As such also the Ground Segment Manager for all missions in development (Bepi Colombo, Solar Orbiter, Juice, Exomars) and the Flight Director for Rosetta.

( He likes playing football, mountain-biking, mountaineering and skiing)