Staff

Full Professor of Criminal Law and European Criminal Law at the University of Catania. Previously Italian judge, he is lawyer, President of the Centre for European Criminal Law and member of the Scientific Council of the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, author of many scientific publications. During his career he covered prestigious roles, among which those of Member of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Since 1997 barrister in Catania and external expert for European Commission in several studies related to EU integration issues. Since 2005 Professor in Criminal Law, EU Criminal Law and International Criminal Law. Member of several professional bodies and research groups. Leader of the research project «Preparing the environment for the EPPO: Fostering mutual trust by improving existing common legal heritage and enhancing common legal understanding», coordinated by University of Catania. rsicurella@lex.unict.it

Grazia Maria Vagliasindi is associate professor of criminal law at University of Catania, Italy. She holds a Master in EU and Italian Environmental Law and a PhD in Italian and Comparative Criminal Law. Her teaching experience includes criminal law and environmental law. She participated in many local, national and international research projects. Her research interests encompass various topics of criminal law, including environmental criminal law, EU criminal law and comparative criminal law.

Valeria Scalia is an Associate Professor of Criminal Law at the Department of Law of the University of Catania. Her area of scientific interest covers, in particular, the relationship between the protection of fundamental rights and criminal law and corruption, as a white-collar crime, in a European, international and comparative perspective, including in its intersections with organized crime. Valeria has participated in several national and international research projects and has carried out several research stays abroad. Valeria is a member of the International Association of Criminal Law, the Italian Association of Professors of Criminal Law and the European Criminal Law Center in Catania.

https://diges.unicz.it/web/2020/03/12/curriculum-vincenzo-tigano/

Since 2020 Annalisa Lucifora is Researcher in Criminal Law at the University of Catania. She is Former InterTalentum – Marie Curie Fellow on Labour Exploitation of Irregular Migrants at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She was member of several studies on EU Criminal Law, environmental criminal law, and trafficking in human beings. In 2012 she obtained an International Ph.D. in “EU Criminal Policies”, and in 2009 a Master II Recherche in “Sciences Criminels”. Since 2010 she is Barrister. alucifora@lex.unict.it

Since 2019  researcher in criminal law at the University of Catania. She holds the Diploma of the “Scuola Superiore di Catania” (Higher Education Center for students of excellence), PhD and Label of Doctor Europaeus in criminal law as well as post-doctoral DAAD scholarship. She carried out several research stays abroad (in the UK and in Germany) both as visiting PhD student and as post-doctoral researcher. Her research interests encompass various topics of criminal law and economic criminal law, including corporate criminal liability, criminal protection of human health in environmental, health and safety at work and food safety matters. Since 2014 she is barrister in Catania.

Federico Carmelo La Vattiata is a Research Fellow in Criminal Law at the UniCT Department of Law. He holds a doctorate in Comparative and European Legal Studies (specialisation: Criminal Law and Procedure and Philosophy of Law), obtained at the University of Trento in November 2022, defending a thesis on the criminal liability for crimes of harm depending on AIs in the EU and in the USA. The following are his research interests: (a) law, science, and technology; (b) European, international, and comparative criminal law; and (c) white-collar crime.

Ugo Santoro is a Ph.D. student in Law at the University of Catania, where he is conducting research on criminal law protection of cultural heritage. He attended the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, from which he graduated in October 2018, discussing a thesis on Criminal Law entitled “The principle of legality in criminal matters, between legislative law and judicial law”. Since January 2022 he has been a qualified lawyer, enrolled in the Catania Bar Association.   E-mail: ugo.santoro@phd.unict.it

Gaspare Stallone (b. 1993) is a Ph. D. Student in Criminal Law at the University of Catania. His research is focused on the retroactivity of the most lenient criminal law in the European multilevel constitutionalism system. In 2016 he graduated obtaining his J.D. in Law full grades cum laude from the University of Bologna, discussing a final dissertation on Italian criminal law, titled “Criminal organizations and white collar crimes”. He is a lawyer and he practices criminal law mainly in Bologna.

Marta Giuca earned a Ph. D. in Criminal Law from the University of Catania in October 2022, with a thesis on Artificial Intelligence and Criminal Liability. She is a lawyer, and was visiting researcher at the Max Plank Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law of Freiburg and at the University Paris-1, Panthéon-Sorbonne (2021). In the years 2015-2016 she served an internship at the Court of Milan; she graduated from the University of Pavia in 2014 and from the Institute for Advanced Studies (IUSS) of Pavia in 2015.   marta.giuca@unict.it

Marco Mazzullo was born on 6 October 1994 in Catania. He attended the Faculty of Law of the University of Catania, where he obtained his J.D. cum laude discuting a final dissertation on European criminal law on the financing of terrorism (supervisor: Prof. Giovanni Grasso). From February 2019 to August 2020, he did an internship at the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Catania (supervisor: Prosecutor Agata Santonicito). In November 2021 he obtained the II level University Master’s Degree in Environmental Law and Land Management with a thesis on the criminal protection of the environment (supervisor: Prof. Grazia Maria Vagliasindi). In October 2023 he passed the bar exam. Since November 2021 he has been a PhD researcher in Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Catania, where he is conducting research on corporate criminal liability, particularly in environmental matters.

(b. 1993) is a Ph.D. student in Criminal Law at the University of Catania, where her research focuses on corporate criminal liability. In 2021 she spent a semester in the USA as a Fulbright visiting researcher. In 2017 she graduated in Law at Bocconi University in Milan, where she also trained as a lawyer and passed the Italian Bar exam. She has recently been appointed as an Italian Magistrate, after serving for a while as a police officer.

Anna Poidomani  was born on 23 December  1997 in Catania. She attended the Faculty of Law of the University of Catania, where she obtained her J.D. cum laude discussing  a final dissertation on European criminal law. From April 2022 to October 2023, she did an internship at the Court of Catania (supervisor: Judge Stefano Montoneri).  In May 2024 she passed the bar exam. Since October 2022 she has been a PhD researcher in Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Catania.

Geraldina Ester Di Natali (b. 1998) is a PhD student in Criminal Law at the University of Catania with a research project in International Criminal Law.  In March 2022 she graduated summa cum laude at the Law Department of University of Trento discussing a thesis on purposes of punishment in International Criminal Law. She participated in an internship program at the Office of the Guarantor of the Rights of Persons Deprived of their Liberty of the Autonomous Province of Trento. In May 2022 she started her activity as a research fellow in Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Trento (UNI4JUSTICE project), focusing on the analysis of the hermeneutic approaches of the Italian Corte di Cassazione about crimes against property. From July 2022 to January 2024, she was placed at the Tribunale di Sorveglianza di Trento as a trainee: she’s been specializing in Penitentiary Law, mainly dealing with alternative sanctions.

Charissa Volponi was born on 08/05/1997 in Alatri (FR). After graduating from high school, in May 2022 she obtained her degree in Law cum laude at the University of Roma Tre with a thesis in Criminal Law entitled “The constitutional profiles of the legislation against illegal immigration”; the research was supported by a semester of activity during an internship in a law firm specialisingin criminal law and civil and immigration law. She completed her professional training for access to the legal profession in a law firm specialising in criminal, environmental and economic criminal law and was admitted to the bar by the Court of Appeal of Rome in May 2024. She is currently a PhD student in Criminal Law at the University of Catania, where she is conducting research on the over-criminalisation of the foreign national offender and the tendency of modern Western legal states to manage migration flows with measures related to crime.

Paolo Prestianni was born in Catania on June 17, 1996. Graduated in 2015 at Liceo Classico “Mario Cutelli” in Catania with the highest grade, he graduated in Law (LMG/01) in the academic year 2019/20 with grades 110/110 cum laude at the Department of the University of Catania, with a thesis on Constitutional Justice entitled “European Constitutional Justice? Reflections on Union jurisprudence in the matter of the independence of the judge and the protection of the rule of law: the Poland case” (rapporteur: Prof. Giancarlo A. Ferro). On September 10, 2020, he begins his internship activity ex art. 73 D.L. 69/2013 at the Corte d’Assise d’Appello of Catania and at the same time, starting from 15 September 2020, also carries out forensic training at the AvvocaturaDistrettuale dello Stato of Catania. As of 1 August 2023 he is a PhD student in Law (XXXIX cycle) at the University of Catania, curriculum of Criminal Law, conducting a research over the topic of Neurosciences…

Lorenzo Rapisarda (b. 1997) is a PhD Candidate in Criminal Procedural Law at the University of Catania, where he graduated cum laude in 2022. From 2022 to 2024, he was a trainee at the Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Catania. In 2025, he undertook a six-month research stay at the University of Luxembourg, followed by a six-month research visit at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo, conducting research on transnational investigations carried out by the EPPO.

Gianluca Pacifico was born in Naples on 24 December 1998. He attended the Faculty of Law of the Luiss Guido Carli Univeristy in Rome, where he graduated cum laude discussing a thesis entitled “La pena pecuniaria tra individuo ed ente collettivo” (supervisor: Prof. Gullo).
In 2024 he passed the bar examination and started his activities as Phd Student in Criminal Law at the University of Catania, with a research project in the field of corporate criminal liability concerning chains of activities. 

Elisa Muscato (b. 1999) is a PhD Student in Criminal Law at the University of Catania where she graduated cum laude in 2022, defending a thesis in Criminal Law. From 2023 to 2024 she completed an eighteen-month judicial internship at the Court of Appeal of Catania. In 2025 she passed the Bar exam.