The Group of High resolution Optical Spectroscopy and related Techniques (GHOST)  started the research activity in 1987 with the setup of the Brillouin light scattering laboratory, equipped with a tandem-multipass Fabry-Perot interferometer. After a few years entirely devoted to the study of surface phonons in thin films, the research activity has been extended to the study of the dynamics of complex systems (liquids, glasses, polymers) and to the analysis of the magnetic properties of low-dymensional structures.