Pietro Boselli

Pietro Boselli, born on 3 December 1988, is an Italian model, engineer, and former mathematics postgraduate teacher at University College London (UCL). He is recognized for his dual career path bridging academic engineering and fashion modeling, as well as his subsequent establishment as a major digital content creator.

Boselli was born in Negrar, Verona, and raised in Brescia, which he considers his hometown. The eldest of four brothers, he completed his secondary education at Liceo Scientifico Statale Annibale Calini in 2007. At the age of 18, he relocated to London to study mechanical engineering at University College London. He earned a first-class Bachelor of Engineering degree in 2010 and later completed a PhD in computational fluid dynamics, focusing his research topic on an inverse design methodology for long last-stage steam turbine blades.

During his doctoral studies at UCL, Boselli was actively involved in higher education instruction. He served as a teaching assistant from September 2010 to June 2013, became a lecturer from September 2013 to June 2014, and worked as a visiting lecturer from October 2014 to March 2015. He completed his PhD research in November 2014, with the degree obtained in 2016.

Boselli was first discovered by an agent at six years old, beginning his early modeling career with Armani Junior. His profile expanded substantially in 2015 after a 2014 Facebook post by one of his UCL students went viral, highlighting his simultaneous work as a university instructor and a successful model. Following this widespread online attention, Boselli expressed appreciation for his rising profile while publicly challenging prejudices and stereotypes surrounding models, such as the "dumb model" trope, on several occasions.

Represented by the British modeling agency Models 1, Boselli won first place in the fitness model category at the World Beauty Fitness & Fashion (WBFF) European ProAm event in 2014. His modeling career includes American campaigns for Abercrombie & Fitch and Equinox, along with projects for Moschino and Vogue. He has also been featured in spreads for GQ Style and appeared on the cover of Attitude magazine. In 2016, he signed with Armani for their EA7 campaign and founded the sportswear brand Petra Design.

In August 2020, Boselli was featured on a lenticular cover of GQ Italia that alternated between his photo and an image of Michelangelo's David, which subsequently led to successful legal action against the magazine by the Galleria dell'Accademia over image rights. Over subsequent years, Boselli expanded his digital presence across Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube, and subscription platforms. His content focuses on fitness, philosophy, Mediterranean cuisine, and scientific reasoning, accumulating a combined following of over five million users.