He was born in 1962 in Desio (Milan) and, after his graduation in history at Milan University, he took a Ph.D. degree in Economic and Social History at the Bocconi University in Milan. In 1996 he became researcher at the Faculty of Economics of Milan University and since 2002 he has been an associate professor at the Bicocca University in Milan where he teaches Economic History and Economic History of Tourism.
After ample researches on manufacture activities in west Lombardia in the 18th and 19th centuries and on the process of formation of the Lombard economic region in modern and contemporary ages, he started to study the history of urban economics.
His most recent studies were on the urban transformations in Milan during the modern and contemporary ages with particular references to the role of the building activity and to the estate investment strategies.
Nowadays he coordinates together with Jean François Chauvard a research project on building in the Italian towns during the modern ages that is in the four years curriculum of the Ecole Française in Rome and he is member of the management of the Italian Association of Urban History.