Giuseppe Sommaruga (1867 - 1917)

Giuseppe Sommaruga was a protagonist of Liberty architecture in Italy between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with particular reference to the Milanese and Lombard areas. His work is linked to the birth and affirmation of the Art Nouveau artistic movement where he tackles various emblematic themes of his era. Note the urban building, the rental house (example of the Marelli house in Milan), the funeral architecture (Mausoleo Faccanoni in Sarnico or the Cirla newsstand in Lanzo d'Intelvi), the urban and holiday villa (in particular I value the residences of the Faccanoni in Sanico), the complexes for tourist reception where the Italian Liberty giant stands out: Compresso of the Grand Hotel, restaurant and funicular at Campo dei Fiori, Varese.

In Varese (from 28 May to 31 July) and Milan (from 22 June to 25 July 2017), cities famously devoted to Liberty, the Italia Liberty institution has proposed a path of discovery and rediscovery of the architectural and artistic works of the eminent architect Giuseppe Sommaruga, edited by Vittorio Sgarbi and Andrea Speziale in the year of the 150th anniversary of birth and centenary of death.Giuseppe Sommaruga was not only one of the greatest exponents of Italian Liberty but also a light-hearted innovator and avant-garde who redefined the very style of Art Nouveau.Three suggestive locations (Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, State Archive in Varese and Palazzo Lombardia in Milan) will be the setting for an absolutely unprecedented photographic and documentary exhibition. The places of the exhibition have been specially chosen after careful research:The Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, closed for five decades: unjustly forgotten masterpiece of Italian Liberty signed by Sommaruga;The Varese State Archive contains original documents by Giuseppe Sommaruga and Hector Guimard, a coeval of Sommaruga (also born in 1867), the architect of international Modernism, an architectural style parallel to Italian Liberty.Palazzo Lombardia in Milan, the seat of the Region in its albeit modern forms, recalls the typical stylistic features of Italian Liberty with concave and convex shapes.It was possible to admire live archival documents and hundreds of images taken by prestigious photographers, including:Sergio Ramari (winner of the third edition of the Italian Liberty international photographic prize and photographer Urbex);Davide Niglia (international landscape photographer, collaborates with various artists on the music scene, exhibited at MIA - Milan Image Art Fair);An exhibition that has only one password: Emotion, the emotion of savoring the charm of the Liberty style in absolutely unique, suggestive locations that are normally not accessible to the public.