Farewell to Ampilio Piarrotto, the king of modular furniture. Ikea is expected to arrive in Italy in half a century

Merano – He knew how to look ahead, to guess directions marketBe ahead of the times. “Woe to the stop,” he replied with a smile when I met him at the factory, with a watchful, watchful look, the resolute air of someone who always knew what he had to do. optimistically. One step ahead of everyone else. with its furniture Ampilio Pierrotto He managed to create new worlds. famous “Appropriate”And unit system Beautiful, durable, easy to assemble and transport, it was adaptable to all the needs of Italy which, in the midst of its economic boom, needed new solutions for prefabricated homes to house even the first appliances. those cell phone forever changed the worldHouse furniture. Long before IKEA arrived.
The Merano businessman, who turned 92 on August 6, died yesterday in the early afternoon at his home in via Accoppè Fratte, a Campocross, surrounded by the love of his wife Juliana and children Antonio and Caterina. “He was very visible to others, always present – says the family – but his physique was now very weak: he died peacefully.”

Transporter
Ampelio’s was a wonderful entrepreneurial adventure born in the distant past 1922column Father Antonio Who, upon his return from the war, started as a carpenter, and also studied in the USA the most innovative solutions for space management. It brings instant success fiftiesto constructAgency In Merano, in via Caorliega. It is here that Amplio, along with his brothers Giancarlo and Orvio (who passed away in December 2004) take their first steps: in the 1960s, the first tests on the “fitting” led to Amplio’s prediction of the era. Also thinking about upgrading: he’s actually one of the founders “Cosmet”, the body that at that time brought together many Italian furniture manufacturers, which then embodied in the first italian furniture fair, a Milan In 1961. And here Ampelio officially presented his project, and it achieved incredible success: orders and requests arrive from all over Italy and abroad.
And in 1963, the “Piarotto Mobili” was expanded, and new warehouses were built across the Accoppè Fratte. The company was launched very well: in the Milan exhibition participated until 1985, appearing on specialized magazines, in TV ads, even on “circular”. Piarotto Mobili quickly became one of the leaders in the world of furniture. Even Jiu Pomodoro, in 1978, together with Ampelio created a beautiful and distinctive table made of plywood.

90s
Production slowed down at the end of the eighties, but Ampelio continued to operate thanks to the help of his sons, in particular from Pietro with whom in 2005 he renewed production with other versions of aluminum “Fitting” and new patents. , then also launch products into e-commerce. However, Pietro died suddenly in 2017.
A very hard blow for Ampilio. Which added to the one she suffered in the 1980s, when the eldest son Antonio, then 18, was kidnapped in the house annex. “He never gave up – he remembers those who met Ampilio -: he was stubborn and infectious, he always knew how to look forward with determination. And with such optimism that he turned the impossible into the possible ».