He was appointed as director of the small botanical garden pertaining to the Monastery of Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto (associated with the church now known as Sant'Anna dei Lombardi) in central Naples.

[2] In 1770, after he met the prince of Kaunitz, minister plenipotentiary of the court of Vienna in Naples, he traveled with him in Austria and he took the opportunity to visit also Germany and Western Italy.

Then he had to go to Palermo in order to visit Marquis President Airoldi, and, once there, he took the chance to study Sicilian vegetation.

In his role as a professor, he was known for his kindness and courtesy towards students, and he managed successfully to teach them the properties of medicinal herbs.

His only wish, according to the sources, was to have a sufficiently large botanical garden, but he was barely allowed to have a small one in the center of the previous Monastery of Monteoliveto, Naples .