diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/client/view/templates/SingleNotificationView.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/client/view/templates/SingleNotificationView.java
index dd639c0..bc501a1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/client/view/templates/SingleNotificationView.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/client/view/templates/SingleNotificationView.java
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ public class SingleNotificationView extends Composite {
 			mainPanel.addStyleName("unread-notification");
 		}
 		String notificationToShow = toShow.getDescription();
-
-		String removeMarkup = notificationToShow.replaceAll("&", "&");
+		GWT.log(notificationToShow);
+		String removeMarkup = notificationToShow.replaceAll("&amp;", "&").replaceAll("&lt;","<").replaceAll("&gt;",">");
 		String actualHTML =  new HTML(removeMarkup).getText();
 		
 		//in case of links behave differently, i know is terrible //TODO: write better code here i think
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/server/NotificationsServiceImpl.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/server/NotificationsServiceImpl.java
index e23cc25..005c81f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/server/NotificationsServiceImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/notifications/server/NotificationsServiceImpl.java
@@ -84,6 +84,10 @@ public class NotificationsServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements No
 		System.out.println("SessionID = " + sessionID);
 		return SessionManager.getInstance().getASLSession(sessionID, user);
 	}
+	/**
+	 * set the user in development mode
+	 * @return
+	 */
 	public String getDevelopmentUser() {
 		String user = "test.user";
 		//user = "massimiliano.assante";
@@ -125,6 +129,7 @@ public class NotificationsServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements No
 		try {
 			for (Notification notification : store.getAllNotificationByUser(getASLSession().getUsername(), NotificationConstants.NOTIFICATION_NUMBER_PRE)) {
 				Date dateWithoutTime = removeTimePart(notification.getTime());
+				notification.setDescription(replaceAmpersand(notification.getDescription()));
 				if (! toReturn.containsKey(dateWithoutTime)) {
 					ArrayList<Notification> nots = new ArrayList<Notification>();
 					nots.add(notification);
@@ -239,7 +244,11 @@ public class NotificationsServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements No
 		}		
 		return toReturn;
 	}
-
+	private String replaceAmpersand(String toReplace) {
+		String toReturn = toReplace.replaceAll("&amp;", "&");
+		return toReturn;
+	}
+	
 	@Override
 	public boolean setUserNotificationPreferences(Map<NotificationType, NotificationChannelType[]> enabledChannels) {
 		return store.setUserNotificationPreferences(getASLSession().getUsername(), enabledChannels);