I'm completing my PhD in Environmental Sciences at the University of Insubria, where I improved methods to quantify microplastics and assess their impact on aquatic ecosystems. My work joins fieldwork – sampling and monitoring from local Lake Como to the open Mediterranean – with the assessment and reporting that ecosystem management actually runs on.
Alongside the science I've built a territorial and administrative perspective, working with municipalities and utilities on sustainability, environmental management, and the circular economy. That double profile – technical and stakeholder-facing – is the thread through everything here.
As part of my PhD research, I developed an improved method for the optical quantification of microplastics based on a dual/co-staining approach combining Nile Red and Rose Bengal. This strategy addresses key limitations of conventional single-dye protocols, such as false positives.
Read the paperAs part of the LIFE CASCADE project (LIFE22-ENV-IT-LIFE, Grant Agreement No. 101113942), I contributed to a work package aimed at monitoring the Como basin – including Lake Como, its tributary and effluent rivers, and the wider hydrographic catchment – for emerging contaminants, with a particular focus on microplastics. The project evaluates and tests treatment technologies to remove PFAS and microplastics from wastewater at both textile company and centralized treatment plant levels, and my work supports this effort by characterizing the occurrence and distribution of microplastics across the basin to assess their environmental levels and impacts. In parallel, the project includes an ecotoxicological assessment component, which I applied specifically to evaluate the impact of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents on receiving water bodies, helping to determine the ecological risk posed by treated discharges and informing more effective monitoring and mitigation strategies.
lifecascade.euMy involvement with the M.A.R.E. (Marine Adventure for Research and Education) project began during my Master's thesis, in which I investigated the presence and levels of PCBs, DDT, and trace metals in zooplankton from the Tyrrhenian Sea, collected during the project's first expedition in 2022. Following the thesis, I continued my involvement as an external intern with One Ocean Foundation, the project's scientific coordinating body, taking on progressively greater responsibilities – including the role of Field Coordinator. In this capacity, I participated in and supported subsequent expeditions across different Mediterranean sub-basins, coordinating on-site sampling activities (zooplankton collection for ecotoxicological analysis) and contributing to the project's long-term objective of establishing baseline data on Mediterranean Sea contamination by persistent organic pollutants and trace elements.
progettomare.orgWorking on communicating science beyond academia.
Since June 2024, I am serving as a municipal councillor for the Comune di Casatenovo (LC), with responsibility for the environmental portfolio. My role spans the management and ecological requalification of public green spaces, the coordination of the town's environmental communication strategy, and ongoing collaboration with local authorities and utility companies – including Silea and Lario Reti Holding – to advance sustainability initiatives and support the transition toward a circular economy at the municipal level.
