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 Textile industry, industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then Dyeing, dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then con ...

at Legnano, in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

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

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

, 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 (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the south-easternmost part of the province of Varese, in the Italy, Italian region of Lombardy, north of Milan. The economy of Busto Arsizio is mainly based on industry and commerce. It is the ...

, but did not complete his education. By the age of fifteen he was working for his father in a small textile bleaching works at Legnano. In 1898 the family started a textile business at Legnano, which was successful and grew substantially. Factories were opened at Nerviano, Cerro Maggiore and Angera. Bernocchi became ''

sindaco A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed ac ...

'' (mayor) of Legnano. In 1929 he was made a Grande Ufficiale ("grand officer") of the

Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate Italian unification, the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for ...

. In the same year he was made a Senator of the Kingdom of Italy. He died in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

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 ...

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

Patronage and donations

Antonio Bernocchi lapide a suo ricordo in Triennale

Bernocchi made several charitable donations. After the demoralising Italian defeat at Caporetto 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. 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 La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

in Milan. His most substantial donation was a

bequest A devise is the act of giving real property by will, traditionally referring to real property. A bequest is the act of giving property by will, usually referring to personal property. Today, the two words are often used interchangeably due to thei ...

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 museum of art and design in the Parco Sempione in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is housed in the , built between 1931 and 1933 to designs by Giovanni Muzio and financed by Antonio Bernocchi and his ...

exhibition, in the

Parco Sempione Parco Sempione ("Simplon Park") is a large city park in the historic center of Milan, region of Lombardy, Italy. Established in 1888, and designed by Emilio Alemagna, it has an overall area of , and it is located inside the Zone 1 administrative ...

. The pavilion, also known as Palazzo Bernocchi, was designed by Giovanni Muzio 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 Road bicycle racing, bicycle race held in Legnano, Italy. From 2005 to 2019, the race was organised as a UCI race classifications, 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour, before joining the UCI ProSeries in 2020. In 1 ...

, 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