Abstract. An overview of research results obtained in more than 40 years of scientific activity in collaboration with several colleagues is given. First, the various addressed topics are summarized, by properly framing them within some main stages of development of nonlinear dynamics in mechanics, identifiable over the time period considered. Then, the focus is on two main research fields that have attracted the writer’s greatest interest and in which he has probably provided the most significant research results: the nonlinear dynamics of sagged cables, and the fundamental role played by global dynamics in the analysis, control and safe design of mechanical systems and structures.