Paolo Fontana is a naturalist, entomologist, apidologist, beekeeper, writer and popularizer. After graduating in Agricultural Sciences (University of Padua, 1993), and obtaining a PhD (University of Bologna, 1998), he worked at the University of Padua until 2009. He is president of the World Biodiversity Association, member of scientific societies, academies and technical bodies. He has carried out many scientific expeditions and has established two entomological collections now at the Museo Naturalistico Archeologico in Vicenza (Coleoptera and Lepidoptera) and the Fondazione Museo Civico in Rovereto (Orthopteroidea). He has described over 100 new taxa and is the author of about 450 scientific, popular and technical publications and several monographs. He is among the authors of the San Michele all’Adige Declaration (2018) for the genetic protection of Apis mellifera and of the Pantelleria Declaration (2022) for the protection of wild colonies. He is among the creators of the BeeWild app for the study of the distribution and survival of wild colonies of honey bees in Europe. He is committed to the protection of biodiversity and in particular of pollinators. A beekeeper for over 35 years, he is a supporter and promoter of a form of beekeeping, for income or family, based on the biological characteristics of the honey bee and on the respect and valorization of its ecological role and its products on a territorial basis.

Fontana P., Buzzetti F. M., Cogo A. & Odé B., 2002. Guida al riconoscimento e allo studio di Cavallette Grilli Mantidi e Insetti affini del Veneto. Ed. Museo Naturalistico Archeologico di Vicenza: 592 pp.

Massa B., Fontana P., Buzzetti F. M., Kleukers R. & Odè B., 2012. Orthoptera. Fauna d’Italia. XLVIII. Calderini, Bologna. 777 pp.

Fontana P. et Al., 2018. Appeal for biodiversity protection of native honey bee subspecies of Apis mellifera in Italy (San Michele all’Adige declaration). Bulletin of Insectology, 71 (2): 257-271, ISSN 1721-8861.

Fontana P., 2021. Il piacere delle api. Le api come modello di sostenibilità e l’apicoltura come esperienza della natura e della storia dell’uomo. Nuova edizione riveduta e ampliata. WBA project: 744+32 pp.

Fontana P. & Forbicioni L., 2024. The unexpected complexity of the Embioptera (Insecta) fauna of the Tuscan Archipelago (Italy), with the disambiguation of two species of Haploembia Verhoeff, 1904 and the description of a new species of Embia Latreille, 1825. Zootaxa, 5507 (4): 549–564.