Pietro Bevilacqua is a historian, writer and essayist, and occasional poet.  Professor of contemporary history at “La Sapienza” University in Rome until 2014; a scholar and prolific writer with multiple interests, he is an active advocate of sustainable agriculture and food systems for the health of people and the planet.  In 1986 he founded the Southern Institute of History and Social Sciences (IMES), which he still presides. He is the author of numerous wide-ranging books among which ‘Venice and the Waters. A Planetary Metaphor’ (Donzelli, Rome 1995),  ‘Demetra and Clio – human beings and the environment in history’ (Donzelli, Rome 2001), ‘The Savvy Cow: History of the European Food Crisis‘ (Donzelli, Rome 2002) and ‘The End of the Earth. A brief history of the environment» (Laterza, Rome-Bari 2006).