Antonio Álvarez-Ossorio Alvariño holds a doctorate in Modern History from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, where he is a full professor. His main lines of research are court society and way of life, as well as the government in Spanish Italy. His publications include Milán y el legado de Felipe II. Gobernadores y corte provincial en la Lombardía de los Austrias (2001), La República de las Parentelas: el Estado de Milán en la monarquía de Carlos II (2002), and La Monarquía de las Naciones. Patria, nación y naturaleza en la monarquía de España (2004), edited with B.J. García García. He is a corresponding member of the Real Academia de la Historia and a full member of the Accademia Ambrosiana in Milan.