In memory of Grandfather Teresio

«Genius alter ego» of Natale Capellaro, «ex-factory worker who followed in his footsteps», «capable of making fine mechanics perform astounding feats»… (*)

The early years and the first machines

Teresio Gassino—born in 1924 in Arè, the son of a blacksmith by trade—graduates in 1942 with a diploma in technical drafting from the Olivetti Mechanical Training Centre, and by 1944 he is already contributing to the earliest calculating machine projects led by the prodigy of mechanical design at Olivetti, Natale Capellaro: «I remember the first task I assigned you. It was to review a cam study I had made for the 14. You made a mistake because of a trivial oversight, but the task nevertheless revealed to me the depth of your mastery of technical drawing». (**)

In 1945 he is the technical coordinator of the entire MC14 project, and from 1948 onwards he collaborates directly with Capellaro in designing every calculating machine, from 1951 taking an active part in shaping the MC21, the Divisumma, the Tetractys, the Audit and subsequent models. Capellaro’s right hand for years, he takes over his role as head of the R&D Project office for calculating machines and writing apparatus in 1964, only to leave as early as 1969: in the meantime, the electronic era has taken over.

The Logos 27

During that time, leading the mechanical designers at Olivetti, Teresio mounts one final challenge to the new technology with the Logos 27, a superautomatic calculator, «certainly—in the words of renowned manager Elserino Piol—the most complete and highest-performing mechanical calculating machine ever made in the world», of which «every single device […] was a jewel of ingenuity and creativity». Logic and mathematics are translated into sheet metal, rotating shafts, ratchets, gears: 3,700 pieces running at speeds of up to 1,000 cycles per minute, to the limits of Olivetti’s distinctive mechanics, characterised by «faint signals, not relying on strength, suitable for transmitting and manipulating the lightness of information». Complex to build and maintain, with the market by then oriented towards electronics, the Logos stands as an ode to the future of mechanical computing that never materialised.

After Olivetti

After leaving Olivetti, Teresio moves to the hills around Siena in Tuscany and devotes himself to winemaking, an endeavour that in 1981 earns him the Douja d’Or national prize in Asti for his Vernaccia di San Gimignano wine “La Quercia di Racciano” (“The Oak of Racciano”). But beneath the old tree he never sets down his pencil. He leaves us in 1998, and in his last days in hospital, he still holds it firmly in his hand, over the unfinished CS-2 project—a cheque-issuing machine, carried forward by his son Massimo.

The house at Monte Navale

It is 1953 when Teresio entrusts the design of the house at Monte Navale, where he will live with his wife Ernesta and their children, to Eduardo Vittoria, the architect behind the Olivetti building that housed the Study and Research Centre, the realm of mechanical designers. I like to picture Teresio at his drafting table late at night, with his beloved classical music playing, as he gazes out of his home window at the lights coming from the Study Centre building, searching for inspiration for a new virtuoso feat at the limits of mechanics. Today, those devices of his are watched over by the dust of museums: metal contraptions that evoke the complications of haute horlogerie and certain universes of retrofuturist science fiction. And those places once animated by the people who gave life to the machines still speak of what the future could be.

A hundred and ten years after the founding of Olivetti, its architectural works were recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. Among them is Villa Gassino, designed by Vittoria: the house where the great mechanical designer, who passed away almost thirty years ago, once lived—my grandfather Teresio.

(*) Quoted here and hereafter: Sandro Sartor, Via Jervis, n. 11 (“11 Jervis Street”), Elserino Piol, Il sogno di un’impresa (“The dream of an enterprise”), and an unpublished typescript by Natale Capellaro. All quotes were translated by the author.

(**) After starting out as a factory worker on the assembly line at Olivetti, Natale Capellaro rises rapidly through the ranks by virtue of his ingenuity, first as a mechanical designer and eventually as head of the research and development department—a trajectory similar to the one Teresio himself would later follow. He is remembered as the mastermind behind the Divisumma 24 calculating machine, a true gold mine that generated immense revenues for Olivetti, with over a million units sold. At the company’s peak, almost half of its revenues came from the calculating machines division, and over a third of the worldwide production of such machines carried the Olivetti brand.

Ivrea, November 2018
(revised in July 2026)
Valerio