Giovanni Manganelli was born on June 5, 1942 in San Giovanni in Persiceto, close to Bologna. He began his studies at the "Convitto Nazionale Cicognini", the same school that has been attended by Gabriele D’Annunzio and Curzio Malaparte. At a young age he moved to London for five years where he got a Film Director Degree.

In the seventies, he returned to Italy and he worked in Rome as assistant director to the young emerging filmmakers engaged in current social issues. In the following decade, he co-wrote the scripts of many comedies starring actors such as Paolo Villaggio, Renato Pozzetto and Adriano Celentano. At the beginning of the eighties, Manganelli worked at Rai as a TV writer.

In the meantime, he developed an active interest in sculpture, an old passion of his. He moved to Tuscany to the family country house “La Vallina” close to Pietrasanta, the town of art where he lived and worked.

At the end of the eighties, he met Ilaria Liotta and when their beloved daughter Giulia was born, he made the decision to exclusively dedicate his work to sculpture. He has always had a preference for vast spaces to display his work. Among his most notable pieces are the "Nuotatrice" - a large dimension sculpture in pink Gallura granite created for the villa of fashion designer Krizia in Punta Volpe in Sardinia, and the big "Tuffatrice", a masterpiece in white Greek marble installed in Piazza delle Ginestre in Portorotondo. His works have also been installed in many headquarters of prestigious Italian companies including a black Markina marble "Coccodrillo" at Tod's, and a "Nuotatrice" in black Tanzania granite at Barilla.

Giovanni Maria Manganelli died on February 8th, 2016 in Pisa.

A few years later, his daughter Giulia Liotta Manganelli founded the Association “Giovanni Manganelli - Sculpting water".