Serianni was professor of Italian language at Sapienza Università di Roma.
[2] A student of Arrigo Castellani’s, he conducted research about Italian linguistic history from the Middle Ages to the present day.
[3] He authored a reference grammar of the Italian language.
Together with Maurizio Trifone he was in charge of the Vocabolario della lingua Italiana Il Devoto-Oli, and with Pietro Trifone he edited Storia della lingua italiana.
[5][6] In 2002, he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Valladolid.