Francesco Stoppa is a Full Professor of Petrography and Petrology at the Department of Psychological, Health and Territory Sciences, Gabriele d’Annunzio University, Chieti-Pescara (Italy). Francesco graduated from the University of Perugia (1975) and obtained a Ph.D. in Geology (1988). He specialises in volcanology and petrology of carbonatites and related rocks and is interested in relationships between volcanism and tectonics, volcanology, mineralogy and petrology of alkaline and carbonatite rocks, late-stage carbonatites, and related ore deposits, as well as conservation and promotion of volcanoes as educational parks. He formerly collaborated with internationally reputed scientists in the field of alkaline rocks and carbonatites. He is a specialist in facies analysis and textural aspects of rocks associated with diatremes. He discovered the first five occurrences of carbonatites in Italy and has published several papers on their volcanology, petrology, mineralogy, and petrogenesis. He developed several projects involving scientific museum exhibitions and outdoor volcanological trails and was involved in several international projects.