Mayor and Deputy

Paolo Manuel Gismondi was born in Sanremo on 7 November 1898. He was the son of Vincenzo and Giulia Maraldi. He graduated in Law to work as a lawyer.

He soon began his political career by joining the Italian Popular Party where he attended Giovanni Amendola, Piero Gobetti and Don Luigi Sturzo.
He was councillor of the municipality of Sanremo, but this activity did not divert him from his studies to obtain a second degree in law, obtained at the Sorbonne, where he distinguished himself in the field of philosophical studies, under the guidance of the Nobel Prize winner André Cassin, Councillor of De Gaulle.

In 1927 he married Anna Aleksandrovna Svedomskaja, painter, daughter of the painter Aleksandr Svedomskij and Anna Kutukova, singer and pianist, who gave him a son Michail and who died in Sanremo on 1 February 1973 and was buried in the cemetery of the Foce.

During the period of the German occupation he was part of the CLN and was imprisoned and locked up in the prisons of Via Privata.

Vice Prefect of Liberation and provincial secretary of the DC, he became part of the Siffredi Council constituted on 27th April 1945.

In May 1947 he was elected mayor of Sanremo: during his term of office he obtained in 1949 the sale by the State of Villa Zirio for the sum of 35 million, the regulations for the allocation of the council houses in Via Dante Alighieri were approved, the project for the fruit and vegetable market to be carried out between the Sanromolo stream and Piazza Eroi Sanremesi, and the new cemetery was inaugurated in Valle Armea.
In the same year, in December, the project to rebuild the Teatro Principe Amedeo was approved, which unfortunately was not followed, the new schools in Poggio were inaugurated and at the end of the tender for the management of the Casino, the management was entrusted to Pier Busseti who had agreed to grant the Municipality the percentage of 81.70 of the gross receipts, keeping the remaining percentage plus personnel expenses for himself.

In 1950 the architect Camus and the engineer Santagostino were entrusted with the project for the Piazza Colombo and the following year the first edition of the Festival della Canzone Italiana was held.

In May 1951 he took over as Mayor Giovanni Asquasciati.

From 1948 to 1953 he was a member of the DC lists.

He also held the position of President of the Provincial Tourist Board and was one of the promoters of the future Motorway of flowers between Savona and Ventimiglia. Passionate about painting, he worked for the cultural promotion of Sanremo.

He died in Sanremo on 3 December 1968.

(source: Marco Mauro)