Gino Coppedè Biography
Gino Coppedè, born Luigi Coppedè (Florence, 26 September 1866 – Rome, 20 September 1927), was an Italian architect, sculptor and decorator. He studied at the Pious Schools and the Professional School of Industrial Decorative Arts in Florence, obtaining the Diploma. Between 1885 and 1890 he worked in his father's laboratory, reaching full mastery of the art of carving, coming into contact with some Tuscan architects of the time. In 1889 he married Beatrice Romanelli, daughter of the sculptor Pasquale Romanelli with whom he had 3 daughters, Anna (1890), Matilde (1892) and Margherita (1897). In 1891 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and graduated as professor of architectural drawing with "unanimity of votes and applause". He teaches at the Puccini Royal Orphanage in Pistoia, collaborating with some foundries in the same city. He was called to Genoa by Evan Mackenzie for the design and construction of the castle of the same name (1890), which would be his first important success. He moved to the Ligurian capital with his family and, thanks to MacKenzie, obtained numerous positions and held the role of member several times in the Municipal Commission of the Commission for the reorganization of town plans. He was named "Academic of Merit" of the Ligustica Academy and, later, "Academic of the Academies of Perugia and Urbino" and Engineer of the Royal School of Applications for Engineers of Rome. In June 1917 he obtained the decree of free teaching in General Architecture at the Royal University of Pisa. In 1919 he was involved in various constructions in Rome which would constitute the complex of buildings known as Quartiere Coppedè, and in other buildings in Messina under the commission of the banking firm Fratelli Cerruti of Genoa. Starting from this year he collaborates with his brothers on the furnishing of some steamships of Lloyd Sabaudo and the Cosulich Società Triestina di Navigazione. In 1921 he designed the castle called Villa La Gaeta on Lake Como, where he stayed in Lierna, together with his brother Adolfo, which was the location of a James Bond film. In 1920, on 6 April, his wife died in Genoa and on 20 December father Mariano Coppedè; Gino, together with his brother Adolfo Coppedè, takes over the management of "La casa Artistica". Between 1920 and 1921 he collaborated with the engineer Ugolotti on the drafting of the project for the relocation of the Rome Termini station. In 1924 construction began on the new castle of the Marquis de la Motilla in Seville. In 1926 he was appointed "emeritus" resident professor of the Academy of Drawing Arts in Florence. He died on 20 September 1927 in Rome suffering from pulmonary gangrene following complications following an operation.
