The “second born” at Centro Zegna in Trivero visits “Roots and Wings”

On 7 February 1940, the “Casa della Madre e del Fanciullo” maternity wing of the Zegna Welfare Center delivered its second baby: Mario Lampo. His parents named him in honor of Ermenegildo Zegna’s brother, a tribute to the family that gave their names to the first three babies born in the Centre’s maternity clinic: Ermenegildo, Mario and Prassede.

The Maternity and Infancy Clinic was one of the most important services offered to the community and earned it a visit by Maria Josè, Princess of Piemonte: “a visit that my mum always spoke about with a certain dose of emotion,” Mario recalls.

Looking at the archive photos at the exhibition at Casa Zegna, memories emerge. “As a kid I went to the Zegna Group’s gym and did lots of sports, competitively too: discus, hurdles, long jump… then I’d go to the swimming pool, where the instructor was the father of Prassede Baroni, the first baby girl born in the Zegna Center’s maternity clinic, and my school mate at the technical college.”

Mario’s ties with Zegna continued into his adulthood as well. After working in a local weaving mill and then a 2-year stint in Australia at the beginning of the Sixties, Mario was taken on by Zegna in Trivero. “I had an interview with Aldo and Angelo Zegna and was taken on as admin. manager at S.T.I.M.A., a firm that made knitwear at the time. Aldo Zegna then brought me into a new business in Galliate, leading to the set up, in 1969, of Condotti, another knitwear producer.”

In the Sixties, Ermenegildo Zegna and his sons Aldo and Angelo started to build the Bielmonte tourist/residential village, on the Panoramica Zegna road, with condominiums designed by great architects like Luigi Vietti. “I moved into the “Rododendro” building, just outside Bielmonte. On Sundays we went walking and in the winter skiing with friends: we were in Bielmonte by 7 in the morning, and the smell of fresh snow was wonderful!”

Mario’s journey into the past was triggered by an exhibition – “Roots and Wings. Building the future from Centro Zegna to the world” – that can still be visited, on Sunday 22 and Sunday 29 October, from 14.00 to 18.00.

Information:

Casa Zegna

Via Marconi, 23 – Trivero (BI)

Tel. 015 7591463