Subsequently, she enrolled in the Master program in Journalism of the University of Bologna and presented a thesis on the role of the press in legitimizing the massacre of 2 August 1980.

In the meantime, she was practicing at the editorial offices of regional news in Emilia-Romagna and the national newspaper Il Resto del Carlino.

In October of the same year she released her first book "Operation Aemilia: Come una cosca di 'Ndrangheta si è insediata al nord", which earned her the Golden Eagle of the 2016 Estense Prize.

[8] Since March 2019 Pignedoli has been a part-time consultant to the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the phenomenon of mafias and other criminal associations, including foreign ones, of the XVIII legislature.

On 12 April 2019 Luigi Di Maio, political leader of the 5 Star Movement, proposed Pignedoli as a candidate in the North-East constituency in the European elections.