passion, and a great culture in lighting design.
But today, what I like to remember most are
his personal relations and his smile, accompanied
by great frankness, and the welcoming, helpful
attitude he always showed.
I still remember him being presented with
an award, recently, at the 60th anniversary
of the foundation of our Association, and his
satisfaction on receiving the plate as a lifetime
member of AIDI, of which he has been a member
since its foundation in Milan, far back in 1959.
As president, I can only thank Mario for all he
has done and given to the Association in sixty
years of participation. I believe that, all together,
we should find a way to keep alive his
invaluable memory.
Chiara Aghemo
Politecnico di Torino
I met Mario Bonomo when I became
acquainted with AIDI: an inseparable pair.
In the early Nineties, I had just become a
university researcher at the Polytechnic University
of Turin and I decided that Lighting Design would
be my specific field of research and didactics
in the scientific sector of Technical Physics
of the Environment.
I therefore joined AIDI, where I met charismatic
personalities with great scientific and professional
competence. Mario Bonomo was one of them.
Together we curated the first edition of Guida AIDI
per l’illuminazione delle opere d’arte negli interni
(AIDI guide for the lighting or artworks in
interiors). It has been an extremely fascinating
educational experience, for his specific
competence and expertise, which he had
professionally gained in his projects for the
lighting of some of the most significant items of
the Italian artistic heritage, gave the Guide a very
applicative and practical configuration, besides
the theoretical and didactic one.
Lastly, I would like to point out another aspect of
Mario Bonomo’s personality: his constant and
never-ending curiosity that would take him, even
at a riper age, to candidate himself, to
experiment, and to ask to be involved. An
admirable example of “intellectual youth”, which
must be an example for all of us.
Thank you Mario, for the enthusiasm and the
constant participation that characterized your
presence in AIDI.
Lorenzo Fellin
Member of the Board of Directors of the Istituto
Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti
Vice-president of AIDI 2004-2008
It was because of AIDI that I met Mario in the
Eighties. Since then, for me, to work in AIDI
in the capacity of a territorial delegate of the
Veneto region, or as vice-president, or, more
simply, as a lighting designer, meant meeting
the extraordinary person that was Mario.
His enthusiasm when facing new problems
and in dealing with initiatives that had never
been tested before, was contagious. I remember
his commitment toward scientific rigour
and technical divulgation. In his speeches
at conferences, in his publications, with
an uncommon generosity he always made his
realizations known to the public, and was
pleased if some young new engineer or architect
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would imitate them. A Master. With his excited
way of speaking, he seemed to want to
concentrate in a single sentence the broad
innovative content of his projects, with
particular regard to the method.
I shared epic “battles” with him, which often
led to incomprehension by the operators in the
sector, as for example the case of the regional
laws and light pollution. We did not always
agree on everything, as it often occurs in serious
and meditated discussions among professionals,
but our friendship and respect never failed, as
we were both convinced that different opinions
are a source of riches and stimuli. I would like to
express my gratitude to Mario, as with him we
lose a piece of that glorious and a bit carefree
part of AIDI, which owes so much to his presence,
since the very first steps of the Association.
Francesco Murano
Lighting designer
The human qualities of Mario Bonomo were high,
manifest, and shared. I therefore do not want
here to emphasize them again, because surely
others will do it better than me and it would
be rhetorical to repeat them.
Instead, I am interested in highlighting how
Mario represents for me, in the highest degree
and at the highest levels, the scientific approach
to lighting problems.
This approach derives the lighting practice from
the knowledge of the laws of optical physics,
finding in the calculation and application
of the obtained results the exact fulfillment
of the design hypotheses.
The scientific approach, which I would define
as deductive, is obviously essential in all cases
where it is necessary to establish the exact
necessary quantity and modality to adequately
perform certain visual tasks.
However, there is another much more inductive
approach, which I would call a luminist
approach, widespread for example in theatre or
in film, which makes its choices from experiential
awareness rather than from a calculated
knowledge of photometric values in progress.
In a border area such as the museum lighting
of works of art, where the precision of pointing
is accompanied by the aesthetic satisfaction
of the results, lighting engineering and
“luminist” lighting design coexist, and this
is why I always keep and consult with pleasure
L’illuminazione delle opera d’arte negli
interni (Lighting of artworks in interiors), text
of which my L’illuminazione delle opere nelle
mostre d’arte (Lighting of artworks in art
exhibitions) is intended to be a modest,
empirical completion.
Pietro Palladino
Lighting designer, Ferrara Palladino lightscape
I met Mario Bonomo in 1987. At that time there
was no Internet, it was very difficult to find study
material and updates on lighting. Above all,
interlocutors with whom to discuss specific topics
of interest were missing. Mario was one of the
few with which you could do it. He had a great
theoretical preparation, plus he was a master of
computational techniques and, last but not least,
he was highly curious. I remember that one day,
while we were analysing some formulas of a CIE
publication on the quantification of glare, seeing
my evident expression of perplexity, he told me:
“Is it because of that squared corner of the
denominator, isn’t it? I do not like it either.
But these are empirical formulas, you have
to get used to them”. He loved to teach, but not
everyone could understand his explanations
because he assumed that everyone had a
preparation equal to his own. I worked with him
on the “Luce per l’Arte” (Light for Art) programme
for about four years, and I was able to tackle very
specific projects: we did not have the tools and
materials of today, planning and research merged
together, and nothing was easy.
I learned a lot from Mario: it was a continuous
exercise in the modification, in the design of the
accessory, up to the definition of special versions
that were pioneered by the manufacturers.
What I appreciated most about him was the
intellectual honesty and forthrightness: in a very
elegant way, he systematically emphasized the
difference between his competence and that
of his interlocutors, and, just as elegantly, he
told them they were incompetent, if necessary.
I often repeat to my collaborators some of the
phrases he said to me, it is my way to keep his
memory alive.
Marinella Patetta
Lighting designer, Metis Lighting
To be honest, I still don’t believe it. Mario was
a part of my professional life, even before it
started. He was one of the teachers of the first
Post-graduate Lighting Design course in 1985, at
the Politecnico di Milano. Perhaps it was the first
real confrontation between the world of
engineers, who dealt with lighting, and the ones
of lighting designers, who at that time in Italy
were still called “lighting technicians.”
Since then, he has been my teacher, my
colleague in teaching, and my colleague in the
profession. He always faced new things with
great curiosity and an openness that surprised
me every time. He was always willing to learn
something new, despite his vast experience,
or perhaps because of it. I also remember having
good-naturedly scolded him now and then. We
held a course together, and he was never able to
stick to the program that we had agreed on... at a
certain point of the lesson he would speak off the
cuff, he simply went “where his heart took him”,
as they say. He was never stingy towards the
students, to whom he was fully available, when
he perceived a mutual interest and passion also
from their side. He was really great, Mario. Many
generations owe their knowledge of lighting to
his lessons. He was very human, in his lightness
of spirit and in his wonderful kind-heartedness.
Super Mario, tireless, always with an extra boost!
During the trips we took part in, he never backed
out, he was always ready for some fun and
participation. Of course with a few “naps” during
bus transfers.I really liked him, and I will always
remember him.
Alessandra Reggiani
Lighting designer, AR Lighting
Speaking of lighting in Italy is impossible without
making some sort of connection to Mario
Bonomo. In his long life, Mario has always dealt
with light: he realized very important projects,