Born in 1899 in Milan, Lombardy. Descendant of a Jewish Sephardic family from Thessaloniki, who settled in Milan in the 19th century. When his father died, he took over the family’s printshop, G. Modiano & Co. specialising in prestigious books and cultural magazines, including some of the best known architectural journals of the 30s (Edilizia Moderna, Quadrante, etc.), also working for Olivetti. A typographer himself, since 1933 he contributed to the design of Casabella and released a geometric typeface called Triennale. He also published a number of essays promoting Rationalism and functional typography. In 1940 he curated the Exhibition of Graphic Arts at the 7th Milan Triennale. During World War II, he joined the army fighting in Russia and tragically dying in 1943 in Germany under a bombing. The same year his printing house was also destroyed by bombs.