Emanuele Luzzati

''Emanuele Luzzati'' was an Italian set designer, illustrator, and animator renowned for his whimsical, colorful, and fantastical creations across theatre, opera, animation, and children's literature. Born on June 3, 1921, in Genoa to a Jewish family, he fled to Switzerland in the late 1930s due to Mussolini's racial laws and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, where he earned his diploma and developed his passion for stage design after encountering Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale. Returning to Italy after the war, Luzzati launched a prolific career that spanned over six decades, designing more than 500 sets and costumes for major theatres, opera houses, and dance companies in Italy and abroad, including Glyndebourne, Vienna Staatsoper, and Scottish Opera.

In collaboration with director Franco Enriquez, he created memorable productions such as The Magic Flute at Glyndebourne and formed La Compagnia dei Quattro, staging works by Ionesco, Stoppard, and others with his signature grotesque and inventive scenic effects. Alongside animator Giulio Gianini, Luzzati produced acclaimed short films set to Rossini overtures, including the Academy Award-nominated La gazza ladra and Pulcinella, as well as a longer adaptation of Mozart's Il flauto magico. He also illustrated numerous children's books, created ceramics, posters, and decorative works for cruise ships such as the Andrea Doria and Michelangelo, and co-founded Genoa's Teatro della Tosse. Known affectionately as "Lele" Luzzati, he continued working into his eighties and left a lasting legacy in applied arts before his death on January 26, 2007, in Genoa.

Emanuele Luzzati was born on 3 June 1921 in Genoa, Italy, into a Jewish family. He spent most of his life in the same family home at via Caffaro 12A in Genoa, a residence that remained central to his personal history.

His classical studies at the Liceo classico Cristoforo Colombo were interrupted when the 1938 Italian racial laws forced his family to withdraw him from the public school system due to his Jewish heritage.

Emanuele Luzzati's family relocated to Lausanne, Switzerland, in the late 1930s due to the Italian fascist regime's racial laws that targeted Jews and forced many to flee persecution. These antisemitic measures, intensified after 1938, compelled the Luzzatis to leave Genoa and seek refuge abroad.