Massimiliano is Full Professor of Navigation and Transport Law at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, after having completed all the previous stages of the academic career, having covered the position of Associate Professor and before that of Senior Assistant Professor in the same University, as well as that of Senior Assistant Professor, from August 2019 to August 2021, at the University of Teramo.

In the academic years 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 he was Adjunct Professor in Air Law at the School of Engineering and Architecture, University of Bologna, Campus of Forlì.

He was awarded four Research Fellowships at the University of Bologna from 2015 to 2018 on the following themes: “The shipowners’ compulsory insurance for maritime claims: problems of coordination between disciplines and possible solutions” (2018); “Off-shore platforms, strategic hubs for the production of fossil and renewable energy: comparative perspectives” (2017); “The Discipline of Logistics Services in the Transport Sector de Iure Condito et de Iure Condendo” (2016); “The Role of the Contractor and of the Policy Holder in the Cargo Insurance Contract” (2015).

He has been named expert both in Maritime Law and in Transport Law at the University of Bologna since 2008, and in September 2012 he was awarded the Ph.D. in European Transport Law.

He has also been Lecturer at many higher education courses, Masters and Ph.D. courses and he held some lessons at the European Parliament for the Directorate for Legislative Acts.

He has been invited to participate as a speaker in more than 70 national and international Conferences (inter alia, in Seoul, Mexico City, London, Bruxelles, Istanbul, Rotterdam, Madrid, Antwerp, Southampton, Leuven, Zagreb, Bilbao, Tirana, Torùn, Split, Pula, Portoroz, Elbasan, Dubrovnik, Mali Lošinj, Opatija, Benicassim, Naples, Bologna, Ravenna, Catanzaro, Alghero, Castelsardo), over the years he has organized Summer Schools, Conferences and International Research Seminars at the University of Bologna, at Ravenna Campus and at the Port Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea (Venice and Chioggia) and has taken part in research groups both at international and Italian level.

Since 2011 he is member of the Bologna Bar Association.

Since 2015 he is Member of the Associazione Italiana di Diritto Marittimo (AIDIM) and since 2019 of the Associazione Italiana di Diritto della Navigazione e dei Trasporti (AIDINAT).

In November 2015 he was appointed as member of the Standing Committee of the YCMI and of the Committee for the Ship Nomenclature, inside the Comité Maritime International (CMI), which studies the definition of “ship” in international Conventions in the maritime sector and in the domestic legislation of each Country, in order to find a solution aimed at achieving a greater uniformity at the international level. Since 2022 he is also Chair of the CMI Publications and Social Media Committee.

Since 2014 he is General Secretary of the “Il Diritto Marittimo” (“Class A” Journal according to the ANVUR classification) and since 2015 of the book series “Il Diritto Marittimo – Quaderni”. Since 2022 he is also member of the Board of Directors of the Journal “Il Diritto Marittimo”.

Since 2016 he is Executive Editor of the “International Transport Law Review” and since 2017 he is a member of the Editorial Board of the Croatian Journal “Comparative Maritime Law”.

Since 2010 he is Member of the International Propeller Clubs – Port of Bologna, of which he has been Secretary from 2015 to 2020.

Massimiliano is the author of four monographs, more than 80 articles and case comments and edited eight collective volumes, related to the matter of Maritime and Transport Law.