Portrait of Ambrogio Bertarelli

Ambrogio Bertarelli (1849-1936) had a rapid and bright career, first as an aide to Carlo Forlanini and then as his successor, for thirty years as head of the dermatology and dermosifilography department of the Ospedale Maggiore. He established the wards of Via Pace (1908), where he created a cutting-edge photoradiotherapy section. Together with his brothers Tomaso and Luigi he supported his pavilion with donations in cash which, almost reached one million lire. It financed the construction of a building of the "Outdoor School" in Niguarda, created with the aim of allowing frail children to fight tuberculosis with good nutrition and life in the open air. He held numerous offices: in the Pellagrological Commission, in the Milan Polyclinic, in the Pia Bagni Marini to the poor scrofula, in the Convitto for frail children and for war orphans in Affori, in the Bonomelli Society for the poor emigrants, in the Lombardy Orticola Society.