Ignazio Gardella

Ignatius Mario Gardella (Milan, 30 March 1905 – Oleggio, 15 March 1999) was an Italian architect, engineer and designer.

He was born into a family of engineers and architects of Genoese origin, whose founder was his namesake great-grandfather Ignazio Gardella senior. Although his original baptismal name was Mario, at 18 Gardella chose to sign himself Ignazio, in honor of his great-grandfather.

From 1915 to 1923 he attended the Giovanni Berchet classical high school in Milan and became friends with his schoolmate Luchino Visconti, a future theater and film director. He graduated in engineering from the Milan Polytechnic in 1928, while he later obtained a degree in architecture from the IUAV, the University Institute of Architecture in Venice, in 1949. During his university years he came into contact with other young protagonists of the Milanese scene with whom he took an active part in the creation of the Italian Modern Movement. His long professional career, which began before his graduation in the late 1933s with his father Arnaldo Gardella, produced an enormous quantity of projects and creations, in particular some hospital and welfare construction works commissioned by Teresio Borsalino, son of the founder of the company of the same name and great-uncle of Aura Usuelli, wife of Ignazio Gardella since 1934. Among the first buildings was the Anti-tuberculosis Dispensary of Alessandria (38-8), considered one of the masterpieces of Italian rationalist architecture[XNUMX]. Before the war, he also took part in some important architectural competitions, such as the one for the construction of the Casa del Fascio of Oleggio together with the architect Luigi Vietti……….Wikipedia…..>>​​​