Piezoelectric actuators are proving to be a reliable solution for many engineering applications, ranging from micro-positioning (machine tools, optic devices or modern microscopes) to active control of structures. The main motivation of this work is to delve into models to represent the hysteretic behavior of piezoelectric actuators in order to apply them to the conception of controllers for such hysteretic systems. A general study of piezoelectric actuators is performed to later deal with the modeling of such actuators. Due to the high non-linear behavior observed, the problem of identifying and modeling the actuator requires a hysteresis model. The Bouc-Wen model has been chosen and investigations to identify its parameters and to validate the model have been undertaken. Once the system has been identified, a linear controller has been designed and implemented in a real platform, employing a Digital Signal Processor.