Born in 1969, Casalini earned a degree in International Relations at the University of Padua, beginning his journalism career in 1993 as a correspondent in Sarajevo for Telechiara.

Over the years he has reported from a wide range of places. He has worked for RAI since 1999, covering refugee camps in Albania and Kosovo, the war in the Republic of Congo, oil exploitation in Equatorial Guinea, the civil war for the control of cocoa in Ivory Coast and cultural diversity in Senegal. As a correspondent for “Un mondo a colori” (“The World in Color”) (Rai Educational) he reported on Romani culture and multiculturalism, contemporary issues related to Islam, illegal immigration to Europe and the rebirth of Romania. He has dealt with the division of the island of Cyprus, the Iranian youth revolt of 2009, illegal farm labor in Puglia and many other issues.

In 2010, he joined the team for Report, carrying out investigations on issues related to the maritime territories, the environment, and the scandals within Italian regions. In 2011, he was one of the first to report from Fukushima. In 2012, he won the Ilaria Alpi Award for best reportage of the year with an investigation on international waste trafficking.

Since 2012 he has focused on the narration of local Italian identity, a subject that he now teaches at the Bicocca University in Milan. He wrote a book on the topic titled Rifondata sulla Bellezza [Rebuilt on Beauty] (2016, Spino Editore) and wrote and hosted the Radio 2 program “Bella Davvero”. For Rai 3, he currently writes and hosts the prime-time program “Generazione Bellezza,” dedicated to the stories of those who generate sustainable economies by protecting the beauty and heritage, both physical and immaterial, that surrounds us.

His installation “The Economy of Beauty” was exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021. He is the creative director of the Museum of the Five Senses in Sciacca, as well as other projects related to territorial enhancement.