Antonio Bernocchi (17 January 1859 – 8 December 1930) was an Italian industrialist, who built up a successful

textile factory Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

at Legnano, in Lombardy.

Life

Bernocchi was born on 17 January 1859 at

Castellanza Castellanza is a town and ''comune'' located in the province of Varese, along the boundary of the province of Milan, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. Overview The toponym refers to the ''castellanze'' (plural form, singular ''castellanza' ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, in Lombardy in northern Italy. He was one of three sons of Rodolfo Bernocchi and Angela Colombo. Bernocchi attended the Scuola Tecnica of

Busto Arsizio Busto Arsizio (; lmo, label= Bustocco, Büsti Grandi) is an Italian city and ''comune'' in the south-easternmost part of the Province of Varese, in the region of Lombardy, in Northern Italy, north of Milan. The economy of Busto Arsizio is main ...

, but did not complete his education. By the age of fifteen he was working for his father in a small

textile bleaching The textile bleaching (or bleaching of textiles) is one of the steps in the textile manufacturing process. The objective of bleaching is to remove the natural color for the following steps such as dyeing or printing or to achieve full white. A ...

works at Legnano. In 1898 the family started a textile business at Legnano, which was successful and grew substantially. Factories were opened at

Nerviano Nerviano ( lmo, Nervian ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the northwestern part of the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of downtown Milan. Its territory is crossed by the Olona The Olona (''Ol ...

Cerro Maggiore Cerro Maggiore (Legnanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. On 25 August 1946 Benito Mussolini's corpse was hided in the town, remaining here until 30 Aug ...

and

Angera Angera (, ; la, Angleria) is a town and ''comune'' located in the province of Varese, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. In Roman times, it was an important lake port and road station. Formerly known as Anghiera, Angera received the title ...

. Bernocchi became ''

sindaco The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (mayor) of Legnano. In 1929 he was made a Grande Ufficiale ("grand officer") of the Order of the Crown of Italy. In the same year he was made a Senator of the Kingdom of Italy. He died in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in the following year, on 8 December 1930. He is buried in the

Cimitero Monumentale di Milano The Cimitero Monumentale (" Monumental Cemetery") is one of the two largest cemeteries in Milan, Italy, the other one being the Cimitero Maggiore. It is noted for the abundance of artistic tombs and monuments. Designed by the architect Carlo Ma ...

, in a large monumental tomb by the architect Alessandro Minali and the sculptor

Giannino Castiglioni Giannino Castiglioni (4 May 1884 – 27 August 1971) was an Italian sculptor and medallist. He worked mostly in monumental and funerary sculpture; his style was representational, and far from the modernist and avant-garde trends of the earl ...

Patronage and donations

Antonio Bernocchi lapide a suo ricordo in Triennale

Bernocchi made several charitable donations. After the demoralising

Italian defeat at Caporetto The Battle of Caporetto (also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the Battle of Kobarid or the Battle of Karfreit) was a battle on the Italian front of World War I. The battle was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Central ...

in November 1917 he was the first to donate to a new charitable organisation for the benefit of war veterans, La Patria Riconoscente, which would later become the

Opera Nazionale Combattenti The Opera Nazionale Combattenti was an Italian charitable organisation set up to provide assistance to veterans of the First World War. It was established in December 1917, in the immediate aftermath of the disastrous Italian defeat at the Bat ...

. He gave funds for the establishment or expansion of schools and hospitals in Legnano, where two schools are named after him. He was a benefactor of La Scala in Milan. His most substantial donation was a

bequest A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term ''bequest'' was used for personal property given by will and ''deviser'' for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the act ...

of five million lire to the city of Milan for the construction of the Palazzo dell'Arte, home of the

Triennale The Triennale di Milano is a design and art museum in the Parco Sempione in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is housed in the Palazzo dell'Arte, which was designed by Giovanni Muzio and built between 1931 and 1933; construction was fi ...

exhibition, in the

Parco Sempione Parco Sempione ("Simplon Park") is a large city park in Milan, Italy. Established in 1888, it has an overall area of , and it is located in the historic centre of the city, inside the Zone 1 administrative division. The park is adjacent to the ...

. The pavilion, also known as Palazzo Bernocchi, was designed by

Giovanni Muzio Giovanni Muzio (12 February 1893 – 21 May 1982) was an Italian architect. Muzio was born and died in Milan. He was closely associated with the Novecento Italiano artists group. Biography The son of Virginio Muzio, an accomplished archi ...

and built between 1931 and 1933; construction was financed by Bernocchi and by his brothers Andrea and Michele. The

Coppa Bernocchi The Coppa Bernocchi is a European bicycle race held in Legnano, Italy. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. In 1919 the business magnate Antonio Bernocchi founded the Coppa Bernocchi (or Bernocchi Cup ...

, a bicycle race held at Legnano since 1919, is dedicated to Bernocchi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernocchi, Antonio 1859 births 1930 deaths Italian philanthropists Businesspeople from Milan University and college founders Italian industrialists Burials at the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano