Lorenzo Cantatore is a Professor of Children’s Literature at the University of Roma Tre, department of educational sciences, where he also manages the "Mauro Laeng"- School and Education Museum. He is the author and curator of books, essays and catalogues on the history of education in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, he has focused his research on different aspects: the reception of literary tradition in nineteenth-century Italian schools (Scelta, ordinata e annotata. L’antologia scolastica nel secondo Ottocento e il laboratorio Carducci-Brilli, Modena 1999); the history of school buildings (Architettura scolastiche in Roma Capitale. I nuovi edifici del Comune 1878-1912, Roma 2001); the history of sentimental education (with F. Borruso, Il primo amore. L’educazione sentimentale nelle pedagogie narrate, Milano 2012; with C. Covato and F. Borruso, L’educazione sentimentale: vita e norme nelle pedagogie narrate, Milano 2014); he has also investigated the pedagogical representation of domestic spaces in nineteenth century children’s literature (Ottocento fra casa e scuola. Luoghi, oggetti, scene della letteratura per l’infanzia, Milano 2013; Parva sed apta mihi: studi sul paesaggio domestico nella letteratura per l’infanzia del XIX secolo, Pisa 2015).
In 2017 he curated the volume Primo: leggere. Per un’educazione alla lettura. He is a member of scientific committee of journals about history of education and children's literature; co-director of the series “Storia sociale dell’educazione” (Edizioni Unicopli, Milano) and “Educatori di ieri e di oggi” (Edizioni Conoscenza, Roma).