The project was aimed to develop high pressure high temperature experimental techniques and studies of materials under extreme pressure and temperature conditions taking advantage of the scientific opportunities offered by the state of the art synchrotron light sources. As a result of the collaborative effort of postdoc fellow and researchers from University of Camerino and BM23 beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), a high temperature diamond anvil cell system partially build by BETSA company has been tested, further developed and tested for x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements under high pressure and temperature. Properties of several substances of interest for basic and applied sciences (e.g, Se, amorphous GeSe2, eutectic GaIn liquid, Si nanowires, metallic glasses) have been studied under extreme conditions using synchrotron (EXAFS, XRD, mainly at ESRF) and laboratory techniques (Raman spectroscopy, at the University of Camerino). Results have been published on several scientific journals and are intended to improve the experimental strategies for the studies of matter under extreme conditions, providing quantitative local structural information for understanding the properties of disordered (liquids, amorphous solids) and nano-sized substances under high pressure and temperature conditions. Those results are also directly relevant to current topics in the basic condensed matter physics, earth and materials sciences.