Gianfranco was born in Naples in February 1997. After obtaining his B.Sc. In Aerospace Engineering in Naples cum laude and a special mention, he moved to Milan and went on obtaining his M.Sc. in Space Engineering. He also attended the Alta Scuola Politecnica, an excellence program focused on innovation, design and multidisciplinary projects. This also allowed him to obtain his second M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Torino. After graduation, he joined the DART Group as a Ph.D. student, focusing his work on the realization of the Orbital Simulation Hub, a deep-space GNC simulation facility in the context of the EXTREMA project.