Despite the recent extraordinary progress in observational cosmology and the successful convergence on a single cosmological model, the history of galaxy and structure formation and evolution remains still an open question. One of the most actively debated issues is how and when the presentday most massive galaxies (e.g. elliptical galaxies and bulges with Mstars > 10^11 M&sun;) built up and what type of evolution characterized their growth over the cosmic time. Addressing this question is important not only to test the different scenarios of galaxy formation, but also to understand how the general structures of the universe evolved.