The Hydrology Days of the Italian Hydrological Society are an annual event in which academia, professionals, and institutions come together to discuss and exchange views on recent developments in the hydrological sciences.
The 2025 edition was hosted by the Polytechnic University of Bari and took place on 8–10 September. The organization benefited from a valuable synergy between the Polytechnic University of Bari and the Italian Hydrological Society, together with the Interuniversity Consortium for Hydrology (CINID) and the Regional Strategic Agency for the Eco-Sustainable Development of the Territory (ASSET) of the Apulia Region.
Bearing witness to the scientific centrality of the Hydrology Days as a meeting point for the Italian hydrological community, this edition confirmed the growing relevance of the initiative, both in terms of participants and scientific contributions. In fact, the number of abstracts increased from 98 presented last year at the Udine edition to 121 this year, scheduled across 5 oral sessions and 3 poster sessions and discussed before an audience of about 180 participants.
This year once again featured the valuable moment of exchange represented by the Round Table, focused on the theme of drought. The absolute centrality of this topic for the territorial context was demonstrated by the significant participation of local and national stakeholders, including Eng. Rocco Bonelli (Southern Apennines District Basin Authority), Eng. Luciano Venditti (Acquedotto Pugliese S.p.A.), Eng. Andrea Zotti (Apulia Region – Water Resources Section), Eng. Giovanni Braca (ISPRA), Dr. Daniela D’Agostino (CIHEAM Bari), Prof. Alberto Montanari (University of Bologna – Return Foundation), and Dr. Andrea Galletti (YHS-IT).
Important highlights of the Hydrology Days included the awarding of the title of Honorary Member to Prof. Mauro Fiorentino and the presentation of the 2025 editions of the “Florisa Melone” and “Paolo Bernardi” awards. The former was awarded to the project “SEASONEX: a data-based investigation of the SEASONality of EXtreme rainfall in Italy” presented by Paola Mazzoglio and Dario Treppiedi, while the latter was awarded to the project “PIX2PEAKS – From PIXels to PEAKS: image velocimetry to support time of concentration estimation in ungauged catchments” presented by Francesco Alongi and Giulia Evangelista.
As further confirmation of the importance and institutional recognition of the Hydrology Days, it should be emphasized that this edition was an integral part of the Mediterranean Water Lab programme, a forum for discussion and innovation dedicated to water as a common good and a strategic resource for humanity, organized by the Apulia Region, with coordination by ASSET, from 13 to 21 September 2025.
During this edition of the Hydrology Days, two specific events were also organized for young researchers belonging to YHS-IT. For further details on YHS-IT activities during the 2025 Hydrology Days, please refer to the following post.
NEWS:
The book of abstracts containing summaries of all presentations is available on the Zenodo repository with the following DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17298436
Ph. Ennio Cusano
