diff --git a/Dockerfile.backend b/Dockerfile.backend
index 823fbdc..f04d8b7 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.backend
+++ b/Dockerfile.backend
@@ -26,4 +26,4 @@ COPY alembic/ ./alembic/
 COPY alembic.ini ./
 
 # Run migrations and start application
-CMD ["sh", "-c", "uv run alembic upgrade head && uv run uvicorn src.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000"]
+CMD ["sh", "-c", "echo 'DATABASE_URL from env: '$DATABASE_URL && uv run alembic upgrade head && uv run uvicorn src.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000"]
diff --git a/alembic.ini b/alembic.ini
index 573f79f..a158b62 100644
--- a/alembic.ini
+++ b/alembic.ini
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ path_separator = os
 # other means of configuring database URLs may be customized within the env.py
 # file.
 # Format: postgresql+asyncpg://user:password@host:port/dbname
-sqlalchemy.url = postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/mockupaws
+sqlalchemy.url = postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@postgres:5432/mockupaws
 
 
 [post_write_hooks]
diff --git a/src/core/config.py b/src/core/config.py
index 8dfaf2f..02fe9c6 100644
--- a/src/core/config.py
+++ b/src/core/config.py
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     log_level: str = "INFO"
     json_logging: bool = True
 
-    # Database
-    database_url: str = "postgresql+asyncpg://app:changeme@localhost:5432/mockupaws"
+    # Database - default uses 'postgres' hostname for Docker, fallback to localhost for local dev
+    database_url: str = "postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@postgres:5432/mockupaws"
 
     # Redis
     redis_url: str = "redis://localhost:6379/0"
diff --git a/src/core/database.py b/src/core/database.py
index 371c5ec..96d4601 100644
--- a/src/core/database.py
+++ b/src/core/database.py
@@ -4,11 +4,14 @@ import os
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import create_async_engine, AsyncSession, async_sessionmaker
 from sqlalchemy.orm import declarative_base
 
-# URL dal environment o default per dev
+# URL dal environment o default per Docker
 DATABASE_URL = os.getenv(
-    "DATABASE_URL", "postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/mockupaws"
+    "DATABASE_URL", "postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@postgres:5432/mockupaws"
 )
 
+# Debug: stampa la DATABASE_URL all'avvio
+print(f"DEBUG - DATABASE_URL: {DATABASE_URL}", flush=True)
+
 # Engine async
 engine = create_async_engine(
     DATABASE_URL,