... now in her thirties, comes from the Abruzzo region. She boasts a literary background from her high-school studies at the Liceo Classico in Lanciano. She later graduated in Physics at the University of Bologna. After her PhD, she moved to CERN under a scholarship and entered the ALICE project. As part of the Bologna group led by Professor Antonino Zichichi, she is currently involved in commissioning the exceptionally complex detectors that will "snap pictures" of about 50,000 lead-lead collisions per second using 160,000 electronic channels.

"Sometimes I get asked whether my job as a researcher is incompatible with a woman's desire for a family. Clearly, I have numerous commitments: I often have to travel and take on serious responsibilities. My suitcase is always on stand-by, and when you have a baby there is only one solution: teach the dad how to give him milk!"