Emilio Alemagna: tracce d’autore. L’archivio ritrovato e il progetto di valorizzazione

Count Emilio Alemagna (1833–1910), a descendant of a lineage documented since the fifteenth century, was a prominent figure in the urban and architectural renewal of western Lombardy in the second half of the nineteenth century. In post-unification Milan, the architect operated within the context of debates on the “national style”, philological restoration, and eclecticism, engaging with figures such as Camillo Boito, Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli, Giuseppe Mengoni, Luca Beltrami, and Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi. A pupil and collaborator of Giuseppe Balzaretto, Alemagna is best known for the creation of Parco Sempione (1888–1894) and the reorganization of the area surrounding the Arco della Pace and the Castello Sforzesco. Equally significant was his work in designing urban and suburban residences for Milanese patricians and the upper bourgeoisie, as well as his involvement with the Brera Academy.
The previously unpublished private archive preserved by his heirs between Barasso and Maccagno now makes it possible to reconstruct the long and multifaceted career
of this professional, which has not been adequately recognized in historiography.
In the former settlement, Villa Alemagna, inherited by Emilio in 1876, stands as a
site of extensive intervention by the architect. This contribution presents an initial
project for the reorganization of the documentary materials, aimed also at
facilitating a better understanding of the history of the Barasso residence, with
the objective of transforming it into a destination for guided visits and integrating
it into the broader itinerary of residences designed or renovated by the architect
in the province of Varese.