Palazzo Viviani-Giberti: façade

Sommaruga’s rich and sensuous personal style characterizes a series of villas and mausolea built for the early Milanese industrial bourgeoisie: the Palazzina Antonio Comi (1906; destroyed) and Palazzina Angelo Salmoiraghi (1906; destroyed), both in Milan; the Villa Angelo Galimberti (1906), Stresa, Novara; the Villa Giovanni Caresio (1908-09), Baveno, Novara; the Palazzo Viviani-Ghiberti (1906-07), Trieste, its lowest storey awash with figural and organic high reliefs; and the villa for Giuseppe Faccanoni with a family mausoleum (1907-088), both at Sarnico, Bergamo.

The Palazzo Viviani-Giberti is located in Viale XX Settembre in Trieste. It was built by Giuseppe Sommaruga, but the project was also signed by the engineers Viviani and Giberti, owners of the building; the design of the side elevations is attributed to them. Its lowest storey is awash with figural and organic high reliefs; the female figures on the fa�ade are by sculptors Romeo Rathmann (1880-1961) and Romeo Depaoli (1876-1916).

Today the building houses the Ambasciatori cinema, former Eden cinema.