Prof. Pilario Costagliola received his Laurea degree in Geological Sciences in 1987 and his PhD degree in 1992. He is an associate professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence. Since 2002, he has been appointed to the Mineralogy and Petrography Laboratory of the Technology and Conservation of Cultural Heritages Laurea Course at the same university. He is also the president of the M.E.M.A., the electron microscope and micro-analysis centre at the University of Firenze. He has collaborated with many Italian universities as well as foreign research centers such as USGS (USA), University of Grenoble (France), University of Barcelona (Spain), University of Queensland (Australia), Washington University (USA), UC Merced University of California (USA).