peterlini was born on 19 september 1950 in bolzano south tyrol and lives today in the village of bronzolo. he studied economics at the universities of modena and innsbruck, and graduated in business management at the university of venice "ca' foscari", and specialized in portfolio management at the new york new york institute of finance. recently he was awarded the doctor in social and economic science at the faculty of political science and social sciences of the university of innsbruck. he achieved his ph.d. with a thesis about the italian constitutional reform and its impact on the special autonomies and with a research project about the electoral systems and their effect on linguistic minorities.