Federico was born in Rimini, Italy, the land of Fellini, wine, and bathing suits. Setting aside his natural attraction for the arts, he studied at Universita Politecnica Delle Marche, where he graduated with both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering, focusing on water treatment. He then moved to California and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine with a dissertation focused on the optimization of wastewater treatment.