Examining Massimo Severo Giannini’s professional activity is a privileged perspective from which to analyse his approach and his methodology in studying legal phenomena, but also from which to examine the consistency and effectiveness of his principal scientific topics in further depth, such as the issue of the application of private law to public bodies and public activities; the transformation of the concept of public service and public concessions; the proper notion and application of administrative discretion; or, finally, the
importance of enhancing the independence and pluralism of different legal systems. Ultimately, one can confirm the image of the legal scholar and legal expert who is capable of dominating a vast variety of legal fields, who is attentive to historical development and to the transformations of the legal system, who is severe in criticizing the system’s failures and inconsistencies but who does not avoid building and defining rigorously legal institutions and legal concepts.