Ignazio Gardella

Ignazio 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 progenitor was the homonymous great-grandfather Ignazio Gardella senior. Although his original first name was Mario, Gardella chose to sign himself Ignazio at the age of 18, in honor of his great-grandfather.

From 1915 to 1923 he attended the Liceo classico Giovanni Berchet in Milan and became friends with his schoolmate Luchino Visconti, future theater and film director. He graduated in engineering at the Milan Polytechnic in 1928, while he subsequently obtained a degree in architecture from the IUAV, the University of Architecture of Venice, in 1949. During his university period he came into contact with the other young protagonists of the Milanese scene with whom he took active part in the creation of the Italian Modern Movement. The long professional activity, which began before graduation in the late twenties with his father Arnaldo Gardella, produced an enormous amount of projects and realizations, 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 1933. Among the first buildings is the Anti-tubercular Dispensary of Alessandria (1934-38), considered one of the masterpieces of Italian rationalist architecture [8]. Before the war there are also some important participations in architecture competitions, such as the one for the construction of the Casa del Fascio in Oleggio together with the architect Luigi Vietti ………. Wikipedia ….. >>