a) SOCIOLOGY OF CONSUMER CULTURES
I'm currently engaged in a large research project funded by The Italian Council for the Social Sciences (CSS) on Consumption and the Middle Class, addressing the contribution of consumption to the constitution of a middle-class social identity in Italy. I also work on the politics of consumption, with particular attention to the development and scope of alternative consumer practices. I have recently been International Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, London, within the ESRC/AHRB Programme "Cultures of Consumption".

b) SOCIOLOGY OF FOOD
I'm particularly interested in the cultural construction of food quality and the institutional set up and politics of quality food chains. I have conducted a vast research on the Italian food system and I'm currently writing a book on Italian food culture. I have been involved in the EU Fifth Framework Programme "Trust in Food: a Comparative and Institutional Study".

c) SOCIOLOGY OF THE BODY
I'm particularly interested in issues of gender boundaries and sexuality. I'm currently collaborating with the Global Denim Project with a study of Jeans and Sexuality in Milan.

d) SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT AND LEISURE
Interfacing my interest for consumer cultures and the body with sport sociology, I have recently published the book Fitness Culture. Gyms and the Commercialisation of Discipline and Fun (Palgrave).

e) CULTURAL THEORY AND QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY
I'm particularly interested in developing the notion of framing in relation to everyday practices, and on working reflexively both on ethnographic experience and visual methodologies.