Raffaello Fagnoni – Architect

Raffaello Fagnoni was born in Florence in 1901. He graduated from the Higher School of Architecture in Rome in 1924 and, upon returning to his city, founded the Florentine section of the Fascist Union of Architects. From 1926 he was among the promoters of the Royal Higher School of Architecture in Florence, which became a faculty in 1933[. Here he became the holder of the chair of Distributive Characteristics of Buildings.

He soon obtained important professional assignments: the restoration of the church of San Francesco in Pistoia (1926-1931), the "Vittorio Alfieri" orphanage in Asti (1930-1932), the Casa del fascio in Settignano (1929-1930) and, together with Giovanni Michelucci, the headquarters of the Opera nazionale del balilla in Pistoia (1928-1930).

In the early 1930s he began to collaborate with the engineer Enrico Bianchini with whom he won the competitions for the PRG of Faenza (1931), for the stadium of Turin (1933) and for the Porta Elisa stadium of Lucca (1934).

Together, they drew up the PRG of the city of Asti (1933) and built the School of Aeronautical Application of Florence (1937).

From 1938 Fagnoni worked on the arrangement of the University of Trieste, with the architect Umberto Nordio, carrying out various interventions during the 1940s and 1950s.

Between 1938 and 1940, he built the Casa littoria "Dante Rossi" and in 1942 he developed the project for the School of Military Health of Florence, which was not built.

In the post-war period he created works of sacred architecture, such as the church of San Domenico in Cagliari (1949-1954), the parish churches of Iglesias (1951) and Carbonia (1954), the church of Santa Maria Assunta (later elevated to a minor basilica) in Montecatini Terme (1953-1958) and the church of Gesù Divino Lavoratore in Rome (1954-1960).

In the same years he created the new headquarters of Credito Italiano in Livorno (1954), the Office of the Superintendence of Public Works of Tuscany, in Florence (1954) and the headquarters of Management for the Autostrada del Sole (1958), also in Florence. For INA-Casa he was among the designers of new neighborhoods such as Isolotto in Florence, Coteto and CEP La Rosa in Livorno (1957-1958).

Starting in 1959, Fagnoni supervised the arrangement of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Florence and the design of the new obstetric-gynecological clinic at the Careggi hospital.

Also worthy of mention are the design of the Rotonda di Settignano (1961), the Pavesi Autogrill near the A1 toll booth at Firenze Sud (1961-1962), the INAIL headquarters in Florence (1963-1966) and the small church of San Giuseppe Artigiano in Montebeni, near Fiesole (1965-1966).

Fagnoni held numerous institutional positions: dean of the Faculty of Architecture in Florence for a few months in 1948 and then continuously from 1956 to 1966, director of the Institute of Building Characteristics, delegate of the National Agency for Crafts and Small Industries (Enapi). Member of important institutions, including the Higher Council of Antiquities and Fine Arts, the Higher Council of Health, the National Center for Hospital Construction and Technology (Cneto), the Catholic Union of Italian Artists (UCAI).

He died in Florence on May 5, 1966