Roberto received a degree from the University of Salerno in 1991, a PhD from the University of Naples in 1998, and a master’s in 1997 and a PhD in 2000 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in Computer Science, with variations that include Mathematics and Engineering in the formal title. In 2007, he earned a piano diploma from the Conservatory of Music of Salerno. In 1992 and 1993, he was a visiting student at Columbia University, NY, and in 1998 at AT&T Research Labs, NJ. In 2000 and 2001, he was a Research Scientist at Akamai Technology, where he was part of the Distributed Data Collection group. He is among the Akamai researchers who received the 2018 SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award. Since 1998, he has been affiliated with the Department of Computer Science at the University of Salerno, first as a researcher, then as an associate professor, and since 2017 as a full professor. His research interests are in the areas of Algorithms, Distributed Systems, Cryptography and Security, and in the field of Computer Music.

At ELICSIR, he is a mentor for the Orthogonal School.