Associate Senior Scientist at CNR-IRSA (National Research Council - Water Research Institute) Verbania Pallanza.

Its field of interest is the Aquatic Microbial Ecology and, in particular, the spatial -temporal trend of particulate and dissolved organic matter and of the microbial assemblages. His activity was also addressed to the development of innovative tools to solve specific sampling problems and to the application of image analysis techniques to quantify the microorganisms. The ultimate objective of his research was the study of the role of autotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms in modifying the flow of energy and of organic matter in lakes.

He has been a member of the Scientific Council of the Italian Institute of Hydrobiology until 2002, when the Institute has joined the Institute for the Study of Ecosystems. Since then he has been responsible for the Department of Ecology of Inland Waters until his termination in June 2005. In the period 1997–2012 he was coordinator of the research on the limnological evolution of Lake Maggiore, promoted by the International Commission for the Protection of Italian-Swiss waters (CIPAIS) and member of the coordinator board of CIPAIS till 2018.

He was chair of the Organizing Committee of the 33rd SIL Congress (Torino, August 2016).

He was editor of the online version of Journal of Limnology (1998-2011) and since 2012 he is Editor in chief of Journal of Limnology.

He is author of over 130 scientific publications, of which one third in journals with IF, of textbooks on limnology ( vb.irsa.cnr.it/crypta/ebooks/laghi e scienza 100618.pdf ) and of some popular science books (vb.irsa.cnr.it/crypta/libreria.html). In 2015 he set up a museum of the ancient instruments of limnology, named "Crypta Baldi", hosted in the CNR ISE of Verbania. He has designed and maintains the website of the museum  (vb.irsa.cnr.it/crypta/eindex.html).