Giacalone holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Bologna and a Master’s in Islamic Studies from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He also completed a specialized course in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (IICT), and earned the Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) certification while collaborating with the UK-based think tank Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism (ITCT).

For over a decade, Giacalone worked with the Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues and Managing Emergencies (ITSTIME), based at the Catholic University of Milan. His work has involved extensive field research on Islamist extremism throughout Europe.

He also served as Country Coordinator for the GLOBSEC-led European project “From Criminals to Terrorists and Back”, focusing on the intersection between organized crime and jihadist terrorism.

He is Senior Analyst at the Washington Outsider Center for Information Warfare and leads the “Latin America Group” at the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS).

From 2014 to 2016, Giacalone was an Associate Researcher at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), contributing to its Observatory on Terrorism and authoring a chapter on jihadism in the Balkans.

Giacalone is the author of the book “La Spirale Balcanica” (The Balkan Spiral, 2016), an in-depth examination of jihadist networks operating between Italy and the Balkans, and The Tablighi Jamaat in Europe (2023), published by Trends Research and Advisory, which analyzes potential radicalization drivers within the Islamist movement.

He has extensive teaching experience, having trained postgraduate students, security professionals, and law enforcement personnel in Italy. He has also provided expert testimony before the Italian Parliament on matters of national security.

His research and analyses have been published by the Global Counter-Terrorism Council, Trends Research and Advisory, Centro Studi Machiavelli, and European Eye on Radicalization. He also worked as a contributor for the Italian newspaper Il Giornale.

Since 2012, Giacalone has closely monitored the emergence and development of Latin American street gangs in Italy (mostly focusing on MS13, Barrio 18 and Latin Kings), working in collaboration with media outlets and institutions in both Italy and the United States.

Giacalone serves as Senior Advisor for the “Monitoring Jihadism Italy Project” and lectures at Rome’s Unimarconi University and the University of Bari, where he teaches courses on Islamist Terrorism and Terrorism Screening & Profiling. He also maintains a blog on security and terrorism for The Times of Israel and is active in monitoring and countering anti-Semitism in Italy.