Faculty

Massimo Florio is Emeritus Professor of Public Economics at the University of Milan and Senior Advisor at CSIL. He is a leading expert in cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and in the evaluation of EU policies, programmes and investment projects.
He has advised major international institutions, including the European Commission (notably DG REGIO), the European Parliament, the European Investment Bank, the OECD, the World Bank and organisations such as CERN, ASI and ESA. His research focuses on applied welfare economics, CBA, public investment, infrastructure and the socio-economic impact of research infrastructures.
Since its first edition in 2011, he has been the Scientific Director of the Milan CBA Summer School. His recent publications include The Privatisation of Knowledge (Routledge, 2023) and Investing in Science: Social Cost–Benefit Analysis of Research Infrastructures (MIT Press, 2019).
More details on his expertise and publications are available at http://www.massimoflorio.com.

Silvia Vignetti is a senior CBA expert and specialises in the appraisal of public investment projects and programmes, with over twenty years of experience working with EU and national institutions.
She co-authored the European Commission’s Guide to Cost–Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects and has played a central role in the review and quality assessment of CBAs for major projects supported by EU funds, including through collaboration with JASPERS and the European Investment Bank. Her work covers transport, environment, social and research infrastructures, and SME support, across both ex-ante and ex-post appraisal.
Silvia has recently contributed to the Horizon Europe project PathOS (2022–2025), supporting the application of CBA-based approaches to Open Science and research and innovation policies. She has extensive experience in training, having delivered CBA courses for EU institutions and national administrations (e.g., in Malta, Lithuania, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Ghana), and serving as an Adjunct Professor of Cost–Benefit Analysis at the University of Milan. She has been one of the core lecturers at the Milan CBA Summer School since its first edition, contributing to both the programme design and the delivery of lectures and hands-on sessions.
She holds a degree in Economics from Bocconi University.

Chiara Pancotti is a senior expert in CBA, socio-economic impact assessment and the appraisal of public investment projects and programmes.
She has led and coordinated CBAs and project appraisals across a wide range of sectors, including transport, environment, energy, water, waste management and research infrastructures, working for EU institutions, international financial organisations and national authorities. Her recent work includes the estimation of key CBA parameters, such as Social Discount Rates and the Marginal Cost of Public Funds, for the European Investment Bank; the review of CBAs for major projects under JASPERS; and the appraisal of large transport and port infrastructure projects.
Chiara has contributed to the development of European CBA guidance, including the European Commission’s Guide to Cost–Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects and the review of the Economic Appraisal Vademecum 2021–2027. With Massimo Florio, she co-authored the second edition of Applied Welfare Economics – Cost–Benefit Analysis of Projects and Policies (Routledge) and authored several reports and papers on CBA.
She has extensive teaching and training experience in CBA, having delivered courses and workshops for EU institutions, international organisations and national administrations in several countries. She has been a leading lecturer and tutor at the Milan CBA Summer School since 2013, contributing to both lectures and hands-on sessions and has also served as Adjunct Professor of Cost–Benefit Analysis and Applied Welfare Economics at the University of Milan.
Chiara holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Milano-Bicocca.

Jessica Catalano specialises in CBA, socio-economic impact assessment and the evaluation of public investment projects and policies. Her work spans infrastructure appraisal, research and innovation policy, Cohesion Policy and health and space-related investments.
She has played a leading role in the development and application of advanced CBA methodologies, including parameter estimation, risk analysis and the appraisal of non-market and intangible benefits. Jessica led CSIL’s work on the Horizon Europe project PathOS, where she designed and implemented a CBA framework tailored to Open Science practices and coordinated analytical work across multiple case studies. Previously, she has acted as quality reviewer of CBAs for major projects applying for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility and has contributed to the review and improvement of project appraisals for EU institutions and international financial organisations.
She has also contributed to and coordinated numerous CBAs and socio-economic impact assessments for institutions such as the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, CERN, national ministries, and several research infrastructures. Her experience covers both ex-ante and ex post appraisal, with applications in transport, environment, urban development, health, energy and research infrastructures.
Jessica delivered teaching assignments on the evaluation of health programmes and policies, including CBA, at the University of Milan, where she has also been an Adjunct Professor of Regional Economics and Policy and Cost-Benefit Analysis. She is the Project Manager of the Milan CBA Summer School and has been a longstanding contributor since its first edition, coordinating the programme’s organisation and contributing to both lectures and hands-on sessions.
She holds an MSc degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in planning, assessment and selection of Public Investments from the University of Naples.

Francesca Ardizzon is a Researcher at CSIL, specialising in cost–benefit analysis, project appraisal and policy evaluation, particularly in transport infrastructure, social infrastructure and EU Cohesion Policy.
She has contributed to CBAs and feasibility studies for major infrastructure projects, including rail and road investments, working for EU institutions, national authorities and international financial organisations. Her recent work includes the estimation of key CBA parameters, such as the Social Discount Rate, Marginal Cost of Public Funds and Shadow Cost of Labour, for the European Investment Bank, as well as sectoral CBAs for national transport authorities, such as the Palermo rail ring, the Palermo–Carini railway line for the and the feasibility study of the new ring road of the Port of Livorno.
She holds a double Master’s degree in Economics and Public Finance from the University of Piemonte Orientale and Université de Rennes 1, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Sciences and European Institutions from the University of Milan.

Martino Da Col is a Researcher at CSIL, specialising in cost–benefit analysis and socio-economic impact assessment in the context of EU and international policy evaluation.
His work focuses on the appraisal of public investment projects and policy interventions, combining quantitative economic analysis with qualitative policy assessment. He has contributed to CBAs and impact studies in sectors including transport, social infrastructure, urban mobility, climate adaptation, energy and innovation policy, working for institutions such as the European Investment Bank, the Council of Europe Development Bank and CERN.
Prior to joining CSIL, he worked as a Researcher at Bocconi University and completed traineeships at the European Commission (DG ECFIN) and EIB–JASPERS, gaining direct exposure to EU-level investment appraisal and climate-related project evaluation.
Martino holds an MSc in Politics and Policy Analysis and a BSc in Economics and Management from Bocconi University.

Louis Colnot is a Senior Researcher at CSIL, with extensive experience in cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and the evaluation of public investments, particularly in research and innovation, research infrastructures and EU Cohesion Policy.
He has developed advanced expertise in applying CBA to non-traditional investment domains, including Open Science and research infrastructures, where benefits are often intangible. In this context, Louis has worked extensively on the socio-economic appraisal of large-scale scientific infrastructures, notably for CERN, integrating traditional CBA with scientometric, bibliometric and data-driven techniques. Within the Horizon Europe project PathOS, he contributed to applying CBA methodologies to assess Open Science practices, applying them to the Portuguese Open Access Scientific Repository (RCAAP) and combining standard appraisal tools with innovative approaches to assess the scientific, educational, and societal benefits. This work combined standard economic appraisal tools with innovative methods to value scientific, educational and broader societal benefits generated by open-access research infrastructures.
Louis holds a Master’s degree from Sciences Po Paris and completed an exchange year at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Enrico Maria Bernardis is Tplan Consulting’s director and, since 2016, one of the lecturers of the Milan CBA Summer School. Enrico has multi-sector and multi-country experience in transport infrastructure and policy appraisal. He has acted as a CBA expert for the development or review of more than 50 Cost-Benefit Analyses for transport projects in different European Countries (France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom) and transport modes (railways, metro and urban transport systems, ports and hinterland connections, road and airports). Enrico has good knowledge of a variety of national and international guidance and tools on economic appraisal for transport, such as the 2014 CBA Guide (EU, DG REGIO), Blue Book (EU, JASPERS), and EIB Railpag (EU, EIB), the Notes on the Economic Evaluation of Transport Projects, 2005 (World Bank) and Treasury’s Green Book and WebTAG/Tuba (UK). INEA has appointed him as an evaluator of the CBAs submitted with applications for funding under the Connecting Europe Facility. Enrico provided training activities on CBA and transport project evaluations for public administrations in Italy, Macedonia and Slovenia.

Davide Sartori is a senior sector economist at the European Investment Bank, where he is responsible for the economic appraisal of energy projects supported by the Bank. He is the main author of the Economic Appraisal Vademecum, published by the European Commission in 2021. Between 2016 and 2020, he worked under the JASPERS mandate as a Cost-Benefit Analysis specialist, supporting ESI Funds beneficiaries in preparing financial, economic, and risk analyses for infrastructure investment projects applying for EU co-financing. He also helped EU Member States to design and develop CBA training programmes. In his previous position at CSIL, he was the lead author of the last edition of the EC Guide to Cost-benefit Analysis of Investment Projects (2014).
Davide is a visiting lecturer at EIPA, the European Institute of Public Administration, and at the Milan CBA Summer School.

Giulio Cisco is a Research Fellow in Health Economics at the Centre for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté) in Lausanne. He focuses his research activities on socio-economic evaluations in the health sector. He is also a PhD candidate at the University of Lausanne with a thesis focusing on mathematical modelling in various areas of health economics.
Previously, he collaborated on research activities with the World Bank, the University of Verona, and CSIL.
He delivers courses and seminars in economic evaluation applied to the healthcare sector at institutions such as the Swiss School of Public Health, University of Neuchâtel, and University of Verona.
He regularly presents his work at international conferences, including the Society of Benefit-Cost Analysis and the European Health Economics Association.
Giulio holds two master’s degrees: one in Economics from the University of Verona, and one in Economic Decisions and Cost-Benefit Analysis from the Paris School of Economics.