Eugenio Gentili Tedeschi: The Architect-Hero of Italian Rationalism

Eugenio Gentili Tedeschi, an Italian architect and partisan, is profiled in an article by Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi on Artribune. Born into a Jewish family of musicians, he attended a 1935 lecture by Edoardo Persico that inspired his commitment to rationalist architecture. Despite racial laws in 1938, he graduated in 1939 and worked illegally with Gio Ponti. In 1941, Giuseppe Pagano mentored him. After September 8, 1943, Gentili Tedeschi was arrested for being Jewish, freed with a bribe, and joined the Resistance, later recognized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. Post-war, he co-founded the architecture magazine Metron in Rome with Mario Ridolfi, Luigi Piccinato, and Bruno Zevi. In 1946 he moved to Milan, befriended Giancarlo De Carlo, and joined the Movimento Studi per l'Architettura (MSA). In 1957, he published a letter in Casabella criticizing its direction, leading to the dissolution of MSA in 1960. He wrote the unpublished book "Razionalismo" and co-directed Abitare magazine for 20 years. His notable works include the Porta Garibaldi station in Milan. Gentili Tedeschi died in 2019.