Born in Trapani, in october the 7th 1957, he is Full Professor in Legal Philosophy at the Department of Law of the University of Ferrara. From november 2006 to october 2009 he was Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ferrara. From 2012 to 2016 he was member of the Board of directors of the University of Ferrara.
He graduated (cum laude) at the Faculty of Law of the University of Palermo in December 1983. In 1985 he had held a fellowship from the Council of Europe. In 1985/86, 1986/87 and 1987/88 he attended the doctoral research courses in "Philosophy of Law" at the University of Padua. In january 29th 1990 he got the degree of "Dottore di ricerca" (PhD) in Philosophy of Law.
From september the 1th 1990 to january the 31th 2001 he was Researcher in Legal Philosophy at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ferrara. There he also taught "Teoria generale del diritto" in 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/2001.
From 1992 to 2000 he gave lectures at the Post-graduate School of Institutions and Techniques for the Protection of Human Rights of the University of Padua.
He has got the post of "Professore straordinario" in Philosophy of Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ferrara from february the 1th 2001 to february the 1th 2004.
He is teaching "Filosofia del diritto", "Metodologia e logica giuridica" and "Conoscenza e didattica del diritto" in the Department of Law of the University of Ferrara.
He is co-editor of "Ars interpretandi", He was coordinator of the Editorial Board of "Rivista di Filosofia del diritto" (Journal of Legal Philosophy); from 2022 he is Editor in Chief of "Rivista di filosofia del diritto"; he is member of the Advisory Committee of "Ragion pratica", member of the Scientific Board of "Diritto e questioni pubbliche". These journals are setted in band A. He is member of the Scientific Board of the series “Ultima Ratio. Filosofie del diritto penale” (Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli).
He was a member of the staff of the doctoral research courses in "Scienze Giuridiche" at the University of Pisa.
From 2011 to 2015 he was a member of the Council of “Società Italiana di Filosofia del Diritto” (Italian Society of Legal Philosophy). From 2015 to 2019 he was coordinator of the Teachers Committee of “Società italiana di Filosofia del diritto”. From 2019 he was Vice-President of "Società Italiana di Filosofia del Diritto". From 2022 he is Presidente of "Società Italiana di Filosofia del Diritto".
He was member of the Ethical Committee of the Province of Ferrara.
He was coordinator of the Ferrara Unit of “Progetto coordinato di ricerca” CNR Agenzia 2000 (“La razionalizzazione del sistema delle fonti e la conoscibilità del diritto nell’era di Internet”), PRIN 2002 (“Uguaglianza: dimensioni giuridiche e etiche di un valore fondamentale”), PRIN 2004 (“Cultura giuridica, democrazia e costituzionalismo in Europa). He was principal investigator of PRIN 2015 ("Soggetto di diritto e vulnerabilità: modelli istituzionali e concetti giuridici in trasformazione").
He was scientific superintendent of the “Convenzione tra il Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza dell’Università di Ferrara e il Servizio Istituti di Garanzia dell’Assemblea legislativa della Regione Emilia-Romagna per il Difensore civico regionale per una ricerca in materia di disabilità e inclusione sociale” - 2015.
He attended national and international conferences.
He was referee of VQR (Valutazione della Qualità della Ricerca) 2004-2010, 2011-2014.
He is author of many works (including twelve books) concerning legal theory, theory of interpretation and legal reasoning, human rights, cultural pluralism, the relationship between trust, social interaction and institutional contexts, the process of inclusion that law supports, the configuration of legal concepts in contemporary age.