Piero Gazzola was born in Piacenza on 6th July 1908, the son of Giovanni Gazzola, a civil engineer. After receiving his high school diploma in Classical Studies, he graduated in 1932 in Civilian Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. Two years later he graduated in Literature and Philosophy at the Università degli Studi di Milano. In 1935 he specialized in Palaeography and Diplomacy, and in 1936 he also received a Specialization Diploma in air raid shelter construction at the Milan Polytechnic. After his second graduation, he immediately embarked on a career in the conservation of monuments: at the Soprintendenza all'Arte Medioevale Moderna della Lombardia(Superintendence of Medieval and Modern Art in the Lombardy region) he was first appointed as architect in the department of monuments, excavations, and tunnels. He would later be promoted to the role of Superintendent in Western Sicily (1939-1941), and from 1942 until 1973, he was the head of the Soprintendenza ai Monumenti del Veneto occidentale (Superintendence of the Western Veneto region: the provinces of Verona, Mantova, and Cremona). In the space of just a decade (1946-56), he oversaw 150 restoration sites with the utmost courage and passion, becoming a world-renowned expert in the field of the protection and preserving of monuments and sites of cultural importance.
Source: Archivio Piero Gazzola