Professor Emeritus at Sapienza University of Rome (1981-2011), he coordinates innovative research projects that remain influential in several fields: methods of descriptive geometry focused on perceptual processes; computer graphics techniques that anticipate later commercial applications; the study of architecture and archaeology, with particular attention to graphic codes; the hermeneutic aspects of images in relation to the meanings of historical iconography; the documentation, interpretation, and enhancement of urban peripheries through tools of visual perception; and, finally, the reading of buildings from an evolutionary perspective, based on the assumption that transformations of the built heritage occur through processes of adaptation and natural selection.
Born in Dogliani (Cuneo) on February 25, 1937, he returns to Lucito (Campobasso) in 1945 and attends school in Molise, the land of his family. He later moves to Rome for his university studies, graduating in Architecture in 1965 under the supervision of Ludovico Quaroni. Between 1968 and 1978, he designs several residential and service complexes (Pesaro, 1968-78; Chieti, 1976-78). From 1981, he teaches at Sapienza University of Rome as Full Professor of Drawing, where he also teaches Descriptive Geometry, Architectural Surveying, Perception, and Visual Communication. He promotes numerous educational initiatives, including the degree programme in Graphics and Multimedia Design at the Valle Giulia Faculty of Architecture, and founds the Drawing research group at the Faculty of Engineering in Perugia. In Umbria, he collaborates regularly with the Archaeological Superintendency. His assignments include surveys of the Crocifisso del Tufo necropolis in Orvieto, the Etruscan walls of Perugia, and the Roman city of Otricoli, as well as museum installations in Perugia, Spoleto, Orvieto, and the design of the Colfiorito Archaeological Museum (2011).
In 1986, he founds the journal “XY dimensioni del disegno”, followed in 1992 by the book series “I libri di XY”. In 2016, both initiatives merge into the publishing project “XYdigitale”.
He passes away at his home in Rome on February 14, 2025.
