  The issue of the number, nature and sequence of phase transitions in the
fully frustrated XY (FFXY) model is a highly non trivial one due to the complex
interplay between its continuous and discrete degrees of freedom. In this
contribution we attack such a problem by means of a twisted conformal field
theory (CFT) approach and show how it gives rise to the U (1)$\otimes Z_{2}$
symmetry and to the whole spectrum of excitations of the FFXY model.
