Born in Naples, she is an art historian with a degree and doctorate at the University Federico II of Naples and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. After a period of contract teaching at Neapolitan universities, she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Yale University Art Gallery, later returning to Italy to direct the Bargello Museums (which include the Museo delle Cappelle Medicee , Orsanmichele, Palazzo Davanzati, Casa Martelli and the Bargello National Museum itself).