- Year of nomination: 2010
- Facility: Department of Hydraulic, Environmental Engineering, Road Infrastructures and Surveying [facility name no longer in use]
"Professor Domenico Zampaglione is a well-known and highly esteemed figure for his work at Politecnico, both as a professor and scholar in his own disciplines and as Pro-Rector of Politecnico, carrying out important organisational and managerial tasks in that role, as in others.
Professor Domenico Zampaglione was born in Messina on 10 January 1934 and graduated in hydraulic civil engineering from the University of Naples in 1958.
Continuing the research begun in his thesis, he started his university career first at the University of Naples, then at the University of Palermo and finally at Politecnico di Milano, an institution from which he retired in November 2007 as Full Professor of Hydraulics, after having held various institutional positions, such as those of Head of the Institute of Hydraulics and Hydraulic Constructions and Deputy Pro-Rector of the University.
His commitment to research and teaching, as well as his service at various levels in the management of the University, was formally recognised in 1985, when the President of the Republic of Italy conferred on him The Gold Medal of Merit for School, Culture and Art.
At the same time, he consolidated his engineering experience by successfully working in the professional field from the 1980s until 2000, also founding an associated engineering firm and an environmental research company.
After the local elections of 1997, the Mayor of Milan appointed him Councillor for Energy and the Environment, reconfirmed him in the position after the 2001 elections, eventually awarding him the Ambrogino d'Oro of Merit from the Municipality of Milan for solving problems relating to the city’s waste treatment centres.
In 2000, after adopting extraordinary measures to quickly create the purification system of the city’s waste water, the Minister of the Interior appointed him Sub-Commissioner for waste management of Milan. His deep commitment to the organisation and management of technical-administrative problems enabled the entire system to be created in just three years, founded on three plants capable of purifying the waste water of the equivalent of 2,500,000 inhabitants.
In July 2003, two years after launching the Optimal Territorial Ambit (ATO) of Milan for the Integrated Water Service, the Ambit Conference appointed him President of the Ambit Authority pursuant to Regional Law no. 21/ 99 and to the Regional Regulation no. 9/2001.
Once Regional Law no. 26/2003 came into force, he committed to transforming the AATO of Milan, which is today reorganised into the form of a Special Company by virtue of the resolution of the City Council of March 2006; as a result, the Mayor of Milan confirmed him at the head of the AATO, assigning him the role of Extraordinary Commissioner of the Ambit Authority as set up above, until the expiry of the administrative mandate.
His university career progressed along an orderly path, the most important points being:
- Assistant Professor of Hydraulics at the University of Palermo in 1962 and then, in 1968, at Politecnico di Milano
- Lecturer in Hydraulics in 1971
- Assistant in Hydraulics in 1971
- Professor of Hydraulics at Politecnico di Milano in 1975
- Secretary of the Faculty of Engineering from 1975 to 1978
- Full Professor of Hydraulics in 1978
- Deputy Pro-Rector of Politecnico di Milano in 1978-81 and again in 1987-90
- Director of the Hydraulics Institute of Politecnico di Milano from 1981 to 1988
- President of the University Building Commission from 1978 to 1981 and from 1986 to 1991
- Deputy Pro-Rector for building development from 1991 to 1994
- President of the National Group of Hydraulics from 1978 to 1983 and President of the 'Hydraulic' Coordination Group of the National Research Council from 1984 to 1989
- Governor of Politecnico from 1978 to 1981, from 1987 to 1990 and from 1992 to 1994"
[extract from the 2010 nomination statement]