Adriano Tournon

Title: Engineer

Date of birth: 20-10-1883

Died: 13-09-1978

Place of birth: Pavia

Died: Turin

Son of Ottone, Lieutenant General Commander of the IX Army Corps and Senator of the Realm from 1900, and Adele Camerana, sister of the magistrate and poet Giovanni. He graduated in engineering at the Polytechnic of Turin in 1906. In 1913 he was elected mayor of Crescentino and the following year he came first in a competition for General Manager advertised by the Association of West Sesia. He began to reorganise the irrigation network and in 1917/18 he designed the irrigation canal for 5 “districts” in the Casalese (Balzola, Morano, Villanova, Popolo, Terranova); he designed (with lawyer Ernesto Angiono Foglietti) and executed an irrigation project for the countryside of Moncrivello deviating water from the Dora Baltea. In 1919 he became ordinary member of the Agricultural Academy of Turin of which he was later chairman from 1939 to 1963. The following year he became a member of the Royal Committee for irrigation. In 1921 he was appointed honorary inspector of the monuments of Piedmont, having been proposed by Cesare Bertea. While in office he advised the Superintendence of restoration work which needed to be carried out on numerous churches, palaces and buildings. In 1922, with his father-in-law Michelangelo Bonelli, he purchased the Pian Due Torri estate in the Campagna. This was reclaimed and proceeded to excel in the production of fruit and vegetables. At the request of prefect E. Lauricella he took up the office of podestà* for Tournon in 1927. Besides being administrator for the City of Vercelli he devoted himself to research and projects such as the Lunense canal near Sarzana. He promoted the establishment of the Federal Institute of Agrarian Credit (of which he was later chairman), he was vice-chairman of the Agricultural Academy of Turin, then chairman from 1939 to 1963. He also planned an irrigation system for the countryside of Arborea in Sardinia using the waters of the Tirso, and with Alberto Geisser set up the Faculty of Agriculture in Turin. In 1930 he was given by the government the task of winding up the Banca Agricola, property of Gualino. All the account holders were reimbursed and most of the branches went to the Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino. In 1939 he became chairman of the Cassa di Risparmio di Torino, where he had been on the managing board since 1925. After the war he continued to chair the Agricultural Academy of Turin, the Italian Paper Factory and the Piedmont Banking Institute. In 1957 he was invited by the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI) to the chairmanship of Italian Telecommunications (SIP), then a hydro- electric company. At the same time he was also involved with the reclamation of the countryside of Tarquinia (Viterbo) with its vineyards and orchards. In 1930 he was nominated “Cavaliere del Lavoro”. In 1920 he married Angela Bonelli, daughter of “Cavaliere del lavoro” and engineer Michelangelo. They had five children: Adele, Giovanni, Giorgio, Paolo, Sandra. From: “Profilo di Adriano Tournon” by Marco Carassi and Maurizio Cassetti

* An office similar to that of Mayor