DALLA COSTA AMLETO

Amleto Dalla Costa is an Italian graphic designer, poster artist, advertising executive, painter and photographer. ( 1929 - 2024 )

Amleto Dalla Costa was born in Milan in 1929. Self-taught, at the age of sixteen, he was recruited by Nino and Toni Pagot's ARS Film, where he worked for nearly two years producing animated films. He appeared on the film I fratelli Dinamite, one of the first Italian animated films, released in 1950.

He then joined the Fabbriche Riunite NEON, where neon signs were designed and manufactured. He notably designed the sign for the Milanese cinema, the Capitol, which opened in 1949 on Via Croce, where Italian film premieres took place, including La Dolce Vita.

He decided to devote himself to photography, met Giorgio Armani, and with him, in the early 1950s, founded the ARDACO studio (for ARmani DAlla COsta), located at 9 Via Druso in Milan, where he focused on fashion photography.

He separated from Giorgio Armani, who went to work for La Rinascente, and devoted himself to advertising; he opened the Studio Dalla Costa agency and, in the early 1970s, La Trend, in collaboration with Dino Capozza. From 1955 to 1975, he participated in campaigns for Italian brands including Cararabelli, Marazzi, and Rivarossi.

In 1975, he decided to become a painter. His first exhibition in Milan, in Via Durini, launched his career. In 1976, he opened the gallery Brera 3, at 3 Via Brera in Milan, where he had his own screen printing studio. He closed the gallery in 1999 and, after a final exhibition in Switzerland in 2006, devoted himself to photography.

Amleto Dalla Costa died in Milan on March 19, 2024.