My research interests lie primarily in the area of nanophotonics. My current activity focuses on two classes of nanomaterials, namely plasmonic systems (i.e. ensembles of nanosized metallic particles) and the so called two-dimensional layered materials and their possible combination into hybrid nanosystems with new outstanding properties. Particular interest is addressed towards the optical characterization of these nanosystems, mainly performed via spatially resolved photoluminescence and spectroscopic ellipsometry. A key-point of my research, which is relevant both for thermoplasmonics and two-dimensional materials, is the possibility to explore their real-time thermo-optical response by means of in situ optical characterization. The other investigation methods employed to characterize these kinds of nanosystems are both spectroscopic (micro-Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and microscopic (atomic force microscopy) techniques.