Pio Pion

Pio Pion
Born	(1887-07-04)4 July 1887 Varese, Italy
Died	15 September 1965(1965-09-15)(aged 78) Milan, Italy
Known for	Establishing the first Italian movie projector company
Scientific career
Fields	Cinema, manufacturing
Institutions	Officine Pio Pion

Pio Pion(4 July 1887 – 15 May 1965) was an Italianentrepreneur,known for founding the first Italian company producing movie projectors, theFumagalli, Pion & C.

Early life

Pion vas born inVaresein 1887 to his father Pierre, whose premature death forced the young Pio to move abroad in search for work. He returned to his native Italy in the first years of the 1900s, where he heard of the recent invention of the firstmovie projectorand, consequently, of what is considered to be thefirst motion picture,thanks to theLumière brothers.Fascinated by this new technology, Pion and his friend Fumagalli start importing earlyPathé Frèresequipment.

Professional career

A few years later, in 1908, Pion and Fumagalli decide to produce their own movie equipment, and they start theFumagalli, Pion & C.company. The business goes on with highs and lows until the beginning ofWorld War I,when both men are enrolled to the army and forced to momentarily abandon their work. After 1918, Pion resumes his old job on his own and renames his firmOfficine Pio Pion.

With cinemas becoming more and more popular, Pion enjoys the most successful period of his working life. TheOfficinerelocate to a larger location in via Rovereto inMilan.Thefascistregime looked favourably on Pion's company, especially after he invented the so-calledcamion sonoro(sound-lorry), a lorry mounted on aFiat 508wheelbase carrying a screen and a movie projector, which, apart from playing films, could also bring propagandist speeches around the major squares.

World War IIbrought another halt to the company's production, as it was arranged for it to produceMorse code-machinery.At the end of the conflict, Pion once again resumed his job and was joined by his two sons, Pierandrea and Riccardo. In the sixties Pion left the business to his sons and retired. He died in 1965, aged 78.