Giuseppe Pagano

Who was Giuseppe Pagano?

Giuseppe Pagano was an Italian architect, notable for his involvement in the movement of rationalist architecture in Italy up to the end of the Second World War. He also designed exhibitions, furniture and interiors and was an amateur photographer.

Giuseppe Pogatschnig was born in Parenzo. After attending the Italian language Lyceum in Trieste, he fled to join the Italian army at the onset of the First World War and adopted the Italian name, Pagano. He was twice wounded and twice captured but managed to escape. In the years immediately following the war, Pagano was associated with Nationalist and pre-Fascist politics, and would be among the founders of the first fascist party of his hometown of Parenzo. In 1924, Pagano graduated from the Politecnico of Turin, with a degree in architecture. In the late 1920s, he started work designing bridges, buildings, including the Gualino office building in Turin with Gino Levi Montalcini, and working on a number of pavilions exhibitions for the Turin Exposition of 1929. In 1931, he moved to Milan to work for the home and decoration magazine La Casa Bella, founded by Guido Marangoni in 1928.