diff --git a/admin/admin.go b/admin/admin.go
index feda89c..de01598 100644
--- a/admin/admin.go
+++ b/admin/admin.go
@@ -21,3 +21,26 @@ along with Mapo.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 Package admin implements the API for Mapo's administration components.
 */
 package admin
+
+import (
+	"gconf/conf"
+)
+
+/*
+GlobalConfiguration, il oggetto globale per l'accesso ai dati contenuti nel
+file di configurazione.
+*/
+var GlobalConfiguration *conf.ConfigFile
+
+/*
+ReadConfiguration, attiva il GlobalConfiguration.
+*/
+func ReadConfiguration(filepath string) error {
+
+	c, err := conf.ReadConfigFile(filepath)
+	if err == nil {
+		GlobalConfiguration = c
+	}
+
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/log/.log.go.swo b/log/.log.go.swo
deleted file mode 100644
index 31bbc07..0000000
Binary files a/log/.log.go.swo and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/log/log.go b/log/log.go
index b39a22f..c196ed0 100644
--- a/log/log.go
+++ b/log/log.go
@@ -42,7 +42,13 @@ var l logger
 
 // SetLevel sets the output level for the global logger
 func SetLevel(level int) {
-	l.level = level
+
+	if level <= DEBUG {
+		l.level = level
+		return
+	}
+
+	panic(fmt.Sprintf("Unknown log level %v", level))
 }
 
 func print(level int, format string, v ...interface{}) {
diff --git a/mapo.go b/mapo.go
index 5c2790b..da1d4cd 100644
--- a/mapo.go
+++ b/mapo.go
@@ -20,17 +20,47 @@ along with Mapo.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 package main
 
 import (
-	"mapo/log"
+	"github.com/maponet/utils/log"
+	"github.com/maponet/utils/conf"
+
+	"flag"
 )
 
 func main() {
+	var err error
+
+	// set config defaults
+	conf.Set("logLevel", "INFO")
+
 	// parse flags
+	var flagLogLevel, flagConfPath string
+	flag.StringVar(&flagConfPath, "conf", "/etc/mapo/mapo.conf", "set path to configuration file")
+	flag.StringVar(&flagLogLevel, "log", "", "set loglevel [ERROR|INFO|DEBUG]")
+	flag.Parse()
+
+	// load config from file
+	confErr := conf.ParseFile(flagConfPath)
 
-	// load config and setup application
-	log.SetLevel(log.DEBUG)
-	log.Info("Setting log level to DEBUG")
+	// override config settings with command line flags
+	if flagLogLevel != "" {
+		conf.Set("logLevel", flagLogLevel)
+	}
+
+	logLevel, _ := conf.GetString("logLevel")
+	err = log.SetLevel(logLevel)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err.Error())
+	}
 
 	log.Info("Starting application")
+	if confErr == nil {
+		log.Info("Loaded configuration file: %s", flagConfPath)
+	} else {
+		log.Error("Can't load config file (%s), using defaults", confErr.Error())
+	}
+	log.Info("Setting log level to: %s", logLevel)
+
+	// setup application
 
 	// register with supervisor
 	log.Info("Joining supervisor")
@@ -50,20 +80,19 @@ func main() {
 	// inform supervisor that we are up
 
 	// for each request
-		// check authentication/authorization
-
-		// extract request operation
+	// 	check authentication/authorization
 
-		// extract request arguments
+	// 	extract request operation
 
-		// pass operation and arguments to api.router
+	// 	extract request arguments
 
-			// find function mapped to operation
+	// 	pass operation and arguments to api.router
 
-			// call function with arguments
+	// 	find function mapped to operation
 
-		// return result to user
+	// 	call function with arguments
 
+	// return result to user
 
 	// close on signal
 	log.Info("Closing application")