Gianmario joined Studio Pietrangeli in 2010, bringing more than 10 years of academic experience, thus approaching the professional world of hydropower and dam design.

After having obtained his degrees in Civil and Hydraulic Engineering at Rome University, and his Ph.D in Hydrology for Engineering at Perugia University, he embraced an academic career as researcher and lecturer in hydraulic constructions and hydrology at the Universities of Rome and L’Aquila. He is the esteemed author of more than 50 peer reviewed scientific papers, not only about dam design, published in international journals.

Since beginning at Studio Pietrangeli he has been responsible for the hydrology sector, being chief hydrologist and hydraulic expert for many of the firm’s recent and more demanding large dam design and hydropower projects (e.g. GERD on the Blue Nile, Koysha on the Omo, Batoka on the Zambezi), due to his proficiency in both numerical and physical hydraulic modelling.

Gianmario strives to collect, manage, review and assess all available hydrological data, analyzing the statistical properties of the records, and developing hydrological models and flow regime simulations. He is methodical in the analysis of any issue, particularly in dam design, and the in-depth study of topics in scientific research and literature, e.g. evaluation of precipitation, flows, sedimentation and evaporation, definition of floods, optimization of energy production, calibration of river diversion and water supply, etc..

He has acquired over 20 years of experience in all kinds of large hydraulic works, maritime works and in dam design, applying the most recent techniques available in the field, as well as the most advanced software.

During his academic period, he was one of the developers of the referenced numerical model used for simulating wind wave propagation towards the inlets of Venice’s lagoon in the MOSE project (mobile dam design).

Walking for kilometers along the Blue Nile banks downstream the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam to understand the river’s natural roughness has been one of his most exciting professional experiences in the world of dam design providing him with the opportunity of a close encounter with a 4 m long Nile crocodile.