Professor Barbera studied at the University of Catania, where he took his undergraduate degree in November of 1960 and became a lecturer in Constitutional Law in 1968. He was a Full Professor of Constitutional Law on the Law Faculty of the University of Ferrara (1970-1977) and the Law Faculty of the University of Bologna (1994-2010). He also taught Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law in the Political Science Department at the University of Catania (1969-1970) and Public Law Institutions in the Political Science Department at the University of Bologna (1977-1994).

He is the author of 22 books (some of them collaborations) and approximately 400 articles, commentaries on judgments, and talks. His research has focused chiefly on topics related to sources of law, the system of constitutional freedoms, regional and local government systems, forms of government, constitutional bodies, and election law. Among his most notable publications is the entry “Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana [The Constitution of the Italian Republic]” in the Annali della Enciclopedia del Diritto, vol. VIII, Giuffré (Milano), 2016.

From 1999 to 2015 he served as editor of Quaderni Costituzionali: Rivista Italiana di Diritto Costituzionale, published by Il Mulino, a post he left in December 2015, following his appointment to the Constitutional Court. He sits on the boards of directors and the editorial boards of several academic journals, including Rassegna Parlamentare, Studi Parlamentari e di Politica Costituzionale, Le Istituzioni del Federalismo, Nuova Informazione Bibliografica, and Autonomie Locali e Servizi Sociali. He also co-directs the Annali di Diritto Costituzionale, published by Bononia University Press, together with Professor Andrea Morrone.

Among his other roles, he was a full member and President of the Guarantors’ Panel on the Constitutionality of Rules, the high court of the Republic of San Marino, from 2003 to 2012, as well as Vice President of the High Council of Administrative Justice for the four-year term from 2001-2005. He has served on various Regional Boards and Ministerial Boards, and was President of the Governing Board that drafted the Consolidated Text of the laws on autonomous regions (d.P.R. No. 267 of 2000). He was also an invited member of the so-called Board of Experts, under the Office of the President of the Council of Ministers, which guided the reform of Part Two of the Constitution.

Professor Barbera served as the President of ISLE, the Italian Institute of Legislative Studies, of which he remains Honorary President to this day, and sits on the Academic Board of the School of Legislative Science and Technique for the same Institute. He served as a member of the Administrative Board of the Parri Institute of Emilia Romagna and a member of the Board of Directors of the Fondazione del Monte of Bolognia and Ravenna (2010-2015).

Judge Barbera has also held political posts: he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies with the PCI and PDS parties and served five legislative terms between 1976 and 1994.

From 1987 to 1992 he was President of the Parliamentary Committee for Regional Matters, and served on the Bicameral Committee for Constitutional Reform from 1983 to 1985 (the Bozzi Committee). Starting in 1992 he served as Vice President of the Bicameral Committee for Institutional Reform (the De Mita-Iotti Committee). In April 1993 he was appointed Minister for Parliamentary Relations (for the Ciampi Government).

Professor Barbera promoted the electoral reform referendums of 1991, 1993, and 1999.

He served as a member of the Regional Council for the Emilia-Romagna Region from 1980 to 1982).

Judge Barbera and his wife, Maria Montemagno, have been married for fifty-two years and have two adult children, Alessandro and Teresa.