Dr. Marco Scortichini is a Research Director and the Project Manager of the Fruit Tree Research Centre (CRA-FRU) at the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy Analysis. He holds a degree in agricultural sciences and deals with plant pathology. In particular, he is involved in the characterization, epidemiology, and control of bacterial phytopathogens. He has studied severe bacterial epidemics of fruit crops such as hazelnuts and kiwifruit. Recently, he has been studying aspects related to the epidemiology of Xylella fastidiosa in Salento (Apulia, Italy).