Giuseppe Sommaruga (1867 - 1917)

A protagonist of the Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga (Milan 11 July 1867 - Milan 27 March 1917),
coming from a family of decorator artisans, he was a pupil of Camillo Boito at the Brera Academy; but he soon reacted to the setting
historicist of the master, to whom he contrasted the search for an architecture
able to find in itself, in terms of organic vitality, the
reasons of your style.

Castiglioni Palace (1901/1904) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Castiglioni Palace (1901/1904) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

The undisputed promoter of Milanese Liberty architecture between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is the leader of a modernist current that, taking on particular cadences, determines the characteristic Liberty style.

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

At the beginning of the century it was already considered, with Moretti, the most representative personality of the young generation of Milanese architects.

Villa Romeo Faccanoni (1912/1914) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Villa Romeo Faccanoni (1912/1914) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

The literature around Sommaruga is very scarce. Note the notes of Melani for the Castiglioni palace and a monograph written by Monneret de Villard. 1914 saw an intelligent contribution by Gianni Ulisse Arata, one of the few followers of Sommaruga.

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

The image we have of Giuseppe Sommaruga is a reflected image, mediated through his works and the testimonies of the time.

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Villa Carosio in Baveno.

Art Nouveau Week. Vittorio Sgarbi visits Villa Carosio by the architect Liberty (2019) by Italia Liberty AssociationItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

In Sarnico there is the greatest concentration of Liberty villas designed by Sommaruga.

Villa Giuseppe Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Villa Pietro Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Villa Pietro Faccanoni (1907) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Cover of the book "The architecture of Giuseppe Sommaruga"

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Sommaruga was a prominent personality in the Milanese environment:

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Honorary member and advisor of the Accademia di Brera, member of the commission of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, president of the Association of Lombardi Architects.

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Recently he was a member of the Superior Council of Fine Arts and first president of the National Federation of Italian Architects.

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

A path that also meant social affirmation and personal prestige and which can be followed emblematically in the successions of the architect's domiciles

Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture Giuseppe Sommaruga's architecture (1915) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

It is known only (by the obituaries) that he had a wife named Adelina Volonteri, a daughter Elisa, brothers Giovanni and Cesare, father-in-law Antonio Volonteri.

Giuseppe Sommaruga on "Emporium"

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.

The exhibition

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.

Villa Luigi Faccanoni (1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Villa Luigi Faccanoni (1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori (1908/1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori (1908/1912) by Giuseppe SommarugaItalia Liberty

Credits: Story

The national association ITALIA LIBERTY thanks the Pozza-Breganze art collection, Vicenza and Andrea Speziali for the images and Federica Mentasi for the texts.

www.italialiberty.it

© Andrea Speziali, Artifact with dragons.
© Pozza-Breganze art collection

Suggested Bibliography:
"Giuseppe Sommaruga (1867-1917). A protagonist of Liberty" (edited by Andrea Speziale), Cartacanta, Forlì 2017.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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