[4] She obtained a master's degree in Biology in 1979 from the University of Florence with a thesis on aggressive behaviour, dominance hierarchies and individual recognition in decapods.

In 1986 she participated in a research field trip organized by Centro di Studi per la Faunistica ed Ecologia Tropicali of the Italian Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Somalia, where for the first time she became interested in tropical Decapods, and in particular to hermit crabs and their gregarious behaviour.

Beginning in 1988, she developed a collaboration with Graziano Fiorito of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, in Naples, Italy, that continued for more than 10 years working, together with her student Elena Tricarico, on the problem of individual recognition in Octopus vulgaris.

[7] The great bulk of her initial work concerned the social recognition in crustaceans and cephalopods: she was particularly known for her studies on hermit crabs (and the problem of shell choice) and on crayfish.

She studied alien aquatic species, and in particular the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii, a pest organism in European inland waters.