Alziro Bergonzo, Italian architect and painter (b. 1906)
Alziro Bergonzo (30 December 1906 – 22 May 1997) was an Italian architect and painter. His primary style was the rationalized Stile Littorio.He was the son of Luigi Bergonzo, an engineering graduate from Bern who had moved to Bergamo in the early 1900s. He studied at the Liceo Sarpi, before enrolling at the Faculty of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1925, where he met Franco Albini and Giancarlo Palanti. His studies were interrupted by military service, but he graduated in 1933.
He worked in his father's established studio, which helped him get to know directly other renowned professionals and artists in the field of decoration. The quality of his early work was noted and he began to receive commissions from various public and private clients, most often in Bergamo.
When World War II broke out, he moved his studio to Rome, where he participated in the competition of the EU42 and collaborated with Luigi Moretti for the Foro Italico.
After the war, he was purged from the professional register for political reasons, but in 1946 he was reinstated and won a competition for the Lido di Venezia. Bergonzo's post-war work includes the Casa Trussardi in Bergammo, the Teatro Manzoni in Milan, port works in Saudi Arabia, and a theatre in Cairo. He also designed the fourth City Gate of Valletta, Malta in the mid-1960s.After designing many public works, Bergonzo began to reserve his projects for private clients, at the same time devoting some of his time to painting, especially in the last few years of his life. He died in Milan in 1997, shortly after the opening of his last major work, the new Piazza della Libertà in Bergamo.
1997May, 22
Alziro Bergonzo
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Events on 1997
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Newt Gingrich
The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395-28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined. - 5Feb
The Holocaust
The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families. - 2Jun
Oklahoma City bombing
In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later. - 1Jul
Tony Blair
China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover ceremony is attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.