Wikipedia

Piero Portaluppi

Not to be confused with Piero Portalupi.

Piero Portaluppi (19 March 1888 – 6 July 1967) was an Italian architect.[1] He is known for his prolific output, having designed over 100 buildings in Milan.[2]

Piero Portaluppi
Born19 March 1888
Milan
Died6 July 1967 (aged 79)
Milan
Alma mater
OccupationArchitect, urban planner, cartoonist, visual artist
WorksExpo 1928 Milan international exhibition, 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, Casa Atellani, Palazzo dell'Arengario, Pinacoteca di Brera, Planetario di Milano, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Villa Necchi Campiglio
Political partyNational Fascist Party Edit this on Wikidata
Awards
  • Gold medal for merit in school, culture and art (1955)
Websitehttp://www.portaluppi.org
[edit on Wikidata]
Padiglione italiano all'esposizione di Barcellona del 1929
The Palazzo del Capitano di Giustizia, now a courthouse on Piazza Fontana in Milan. Designed in 1578 in the Milanese Baroque style by Pietro Antonio Barca and completed in 1605. Restored in 1960 by Portaluppi following World War II bombing damage.
The Casa degli Atellani in Milan, designed in 1823 by Domenico Aspari, restored by Portaluppi in the 1920 and again after World War II.

Biography

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Pietro (known as Piero) Portaluppi was born in Milan, son of the engineer Oreste Portaluppi and wife Luisa Gadda.

He graduated in 1905 from the Istituto Tecnico Carlo Cattaneo and registered at the Politecnico, studying with Enrico Agostino Griffini [it] and Carlo Calzecchi. During this time, he worked as a caricaturist with the satirical newspapers Il Babau, A quel paese, and Guerin Meschino.[3][4]

In September 1910, he graduated as an architect and won the Gold Medal of the College of Engineers and Architects of Milan, as its laureate. For the Conti Electrical Company, he worked on hydroelectric plants, mostly located in Formazza. The most famous are in Verampio (1912–1917), Valdo (1920–1923), Crevoladossola (1923–1924), and Cadarese [it] (1925–1929). For the Azienda Elettrica Municipale di Milano, he designed the plant of Grosio (1918–1920).

During the First World War, Portaluppi worked for the military in the Veneto and Friuli Regions. He resumed his professional activity after the war, rebuilding la Pinacoteca di Brera, the Villa Fossati, and the Casa degli Atellani in Corso Magenta, the home of Ettore Conti. Conti introduced Portaluppi to Milan's high society and he started to have the city's most important families as clients such as Borletti, Fossati, Venti and Crespi, Angelo Campiglio, and Mino Brughera. In 1920, Portaluppi designed two projects that are viewed as emblematic of his architecture: the skyscraper S.K.N.E. for the area of Allabanuel, and an utopian city, Hellytown.[4]

Other projects during this period were the Palazzo della Banca Commerciale Italiana (1928–1932), the Planetarium Hoepli (1929–1930), residential buildings for the Buonarroti-Carpaccio-Giotto family (1926–1930), the Casa Crespi on Corso Venezia (1927–1930), and the Palazzo Crespi on Corso Giacomo Matteotti (1928–1932). He designed the Italian Pavilion for the Universal Exposition in Barcelona in 1929.

Among his most important works are the Palazzo INA, Piazza Diaz (1932–1937), the Villa Necchi Campiglio on via Mozart (1932–1935),[5][6] Casa Corbellini-Wassermann [it] (1934–1936),[2][7] the Palazzo Ras on via Torino (1935–1938), and Case Brughera on via Tiziano in Milan (1936–1938).[8] Between 1934 and 1938, he worked on the historic restoration of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie and continued that work after the war.

Following the Second World War, he devoted himself increasingly to teaching and professional organizations. He continued to design and collaborated on later architectural projects with Gio Ponti (1956–1962). Portaluppi "had fallen into relative obscurity, tainted after the war by his professional association with the [Fascist] regime", until 2009 when the Villa Necchi Campiglio was used as a principal shooting location for Luca Guadagnino's film I Am Love.[2] The house also featured prominently in the 2021 film House of Gucci by Ridley Scott.[9]

 
Villa Necchi, via Mozart 14, Milan, Italy
 
Villa Necchi, main staircase
 
Case Brughera, via Tiziano 6, Milan (1938)
 
Paolo Monti photograph showing Case Brughera on the left and piazza Michelangelo Buonarroti in the distance
 
Sofa for an apartment in via Manin (1938)

Personal life and death

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In July 1913, Portaluppi married Lia Baglia. They had two children: Luisa and Oreste (known familiarly as Tuccio). His son Tuccio died in the Second World War. On 6 July 1967, Piero Portaluppi died in his house on Corso Magenta in Milan.

Major Achievements and Projects

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Starting in 1950 Piero Portaluppi collaborated with Gualtiero Galmanini until his death, establishing himself as a key figure in Italian rationalism. Although he participated in Galmanini's projects, he did not always sign official documents, and many materials were lost in a fire at the land registry in Milan. In his later years, Portaluppi increasingly delegated his projects to Galmanini.

Publications (in Italian)

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  • Piero Portaluppi, Aedilitia I, Bestetti e Tumminelli, Milano-Roma 1924.
  • Piero Portaluppi, Marco Semenza, Milano com'è ora come sarà, Bestetti e Tumminelli, Milano-Roma 1927.
  • Piero Portaluppi, Aedilitia II, Bestetti e Tumminelli, Milano-Roma 1930.

References

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  1. ^ Piero Portaluppi – itinerari – Ordine degli architetti, P.P.C della provincia di Milano. Ordinearchitetti.mi.it. Retrieved on 3 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Hass, Nancy (16 May 2019). "A Villa Built During Milan's Fascist Period Finds a Second Life". T Magazine. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  3. ^ Luca Cottini (Fall 2017). "Palazzeschi's "La passeggiata" and the Urban Miniatures of the Modern World". Italica. 94 (3): 504. JSTOR 44983604.
  4. ^ a b "Portaluppi, Piero - Treccani". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  5. ^ Villa Necchi Campiglio, Milan by Piero Portaluppi |. Catesthill.com (28 January 2014). Retrieved on 3 July 2015.
  6. ^ Frearson, Amy (7 June 2022). "The story of Villa Necchi Campiglio, featured in House of Gucci". ELLE Decoration. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  7. ^ "Piero Portaluppi's Rationalist Masterpiece Welcomes Massimo De Carlo in Milan". ELLE Decor (in Italian). 16 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Case Brughera". Fondazione Piero Portaluppi (in Italian). Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  9. ^ Appert, Caroline (14 November 2021). "Le iconiche ville italiane che fanno da sfondo al film House of Gucci". Architectural Digest Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  10. ^ Maria Manuela Leoni; Fulvio Irace (2015). "Facoltà di architettura del Politecnico di Milano". lombardiabeniculturali.it (in Italian).
  11. ^ Roberto Arsuffi (18 January 2022). "Milano - Città Studi – Edificio 11 Facoltà di Architettura: restaurato". blog.urbanfile.org (in Italian).
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