Paolo Giannozzi graduated at the University of Pisa (1982) and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Lausanne (1988).

He was a post-doc at IRRMA - Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne, then moved to Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in 1991 as "researcher" (assistant professor).

Since 2006 he is professor ("associato") of condensed-matter physics at the University of Udine.

He has spent various periods as a visitor in SISSA-ISAS Trieste, IBM Research Laboratories Zurich, CECAM Lyon and Lausanne, Princeton University.