Hi, I’m Elio
I work as a software engineer, but what really drives me is curiosity… watching the world, asking questions and coming up with theories to understand it a little better.
Over the years I’ve studied computer science, taken apart more systems than I can remember and started quite a few projects. Some worked, some not so much, but every single one taught me something.
For a long time I’d felt the need for a space of my own. A place to share the process, not just the end results, and to make the world of tech a little clearer and easier to get into for everyone.
Today
Software engineer
Master’s degree
Computer Engineering at Politecnico di Torino
Publication
Personal project
Callio, the app that fights spam calls
My story, in short
I never had a clear plan. What I always had, though, was a curiosity that’s hard to switch off.
As a kid
Figuring out what goes on “under the hood”
I spent hours at the computer, not so much to play games as to figure out what was going on “under the hood.” I took things apart, broke them and tried to put them back together.
Sometimes I even wondered if I could hack a game, hunt down its bugs and make it more fun. Every now and then I actually pulled it off. That curiosity never went away.
After high school
Studying what had always pulled me in
When I finished high school, I didn’t have a very clear picture of my future. So I went with the simplest choice… studying what had always pulled me in.
Along the way I got my hands on a bit of everything… systems, networks, servers, databases, security, software development. Plenty of projects never got finished, and others nobody ever saw. And that’s fine. Being able to experiment without having to impress anyone was a huge advantage.
In college
My first step into the world “out there”
First came a Linux student association, where I helped other students fix problems with their own penguin. 🐧
Then a software company in Rome, where the experiments were the same, but with real clients and a whole new level of responsibility. One of those clients was the Italian Navy. I wasn’t commanding fleets (though I wouldn’t have minded), but I worked on services that supported military personnel.
At 21
A master’s in Computer Engineering at Politecnico di Torino
Cybersecurity had started to really grab my attention, so I decided to dig deeper into it at Politecnico di Torino. In English, because making life a little harder for myself is one of my specialties.
Those were intense years. Tough projects, people from all over the world, one challenge after another. And I found out that whenever I tried to explain something to others, I suddenly understood it better myself.
Tech isn’t hard. It’s just often explained badly.
Today
A software engineer, and more
Today I work as a software engineer, but I don’t want to be defined only by what I do for a living.
What I care about is growing, getting better at learning and sharing what I discover along the way. That’s why this space exists.
What I’ve built
Projects that grew out of the same curiosity, in college, at work and in my spare time.
Research · Politecnico di Torino
DigitalCertiAnalytics
A tool that collects and analyzes X.509v3 certificates at scale, the ones that protect HTTPS websites. It checks chains of trust, extensions and compliance with the standards.
Scientific publication
IEEE ICC 2026
An Automatic Large-scale Tool for X.509v3 Certificate Collection and Analysis, written in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino.
Android app · Coming soon to Google Play
Callio
An app against spam calls, born after I’d tried everything, from blocking numbers by hand to signing up for Italy’s Do Not Call registry. It does the dirty work for you.
On the blog
Akinator explained with a demo
How it guesses the character you’re thinking of, without artificial intelligence. With a version you can try right inside the article.
Offline
Same logic, different setting. I like to test myself with new experiences… boxing, soccer, swimming, salsa, bachata, the gym and bike rides.
Cycling helps me get away from the city, lose myself in nature and breathe in some open space. Running, on the other hand, is always there. It clears my head and reminds me that progress takes patience and consistency.
I’m also into cars and motorcycles, and pretty much anything with an engine. All it takes is hearing a V12 roar to feel the adrenaline.
Tech, studying, sports… when I look at it all together, there’s really just one common thread.
Accepting that I won’t be good at something right away, and learning as I go.
Why I write this blog
Not because I have all the answers. I often start from questions, from things that aren’t clear to me or from ideas that get explained in a way that’s far too complicated.
Here I try to get a better grip on the world of tech, take it apart, simplify it and form my own view of it. The goal is to make this world more approachable and spark some curiosity along the way.
And maybe help someone else feel a little less distant from a world that so often seems more complicated than it really is.
In the press
They wrote about me
Articles and interviews about my journey, all in Italian.
Let’s stay in touch
If you’d like to follow what I write, the newsletter is the easiest way. For everything else, you’ll find me here.