Born in Ferrara, March 3rd, 1885. Died in Pescara, June 20th, 1974.
He was the eldest of four brothers, two of which were lawyers like their father, the third chose a military career. Giovanni abandoned his studies at the age of sixteen, when an aunt gave him a small piece of land near Ferrara and he began dedicating himself to the cross-breeding and growing of various flowers ( dahlias, chrysanthemums, etc.), and very soon only roses. While very young he worked in nurseries in Germany and France to improve his knowledge in the field of impollination, insemination, etc. and upon his return to Italy he moved to Bologna where he became a sales representative . He met his future wife, Valentina Muzii from Pescara just before the outbreak of the first world war, enrolled in the army and married her in 1919. After the war, and because of the "sanzioni", he lost many of his foreign representations (Nestlè, Lipton, Tobler, etc.) and so started Borgatti Sementi.

In 1936, due to the death of his mother-in-law, his wife returned to Pescara to assist her father in the administration of their property. Giovanni Borgatti divided his time between Bologna and Pescara where he transformed the garden of Villa Muzii into a nursery for his activities as a rose breeder and during the second world war the family took refuge in the hills behind Pescara, in a village called Vicoli as Pescara was heavily bombed and later occupied by he Germans.

After the war he returned to Bologna to pursue his activities there and in the fifties retired definitely to Pescara where he dedicated his time to his passion for roses and the creation of new varieties. He was called to judge at many competitions in Italy and abroad and not long before he died was even asked to judge in Tokio, refusing owing to his age!

He worked in his garden every day until he died after a short illness in June 1974 , at the age of 89.

(Biography provided by Borgatti's daughter in law)

Although The Rose Annual, (1981, p. 115) refers that Borgatti bred about twenty varieties of roses, only twelve are listed in HMF. I reported some missing ones (Valentina Borgatti on 21 august; 299, 116C, 0146 and Jacqueline Mennrath on 18 august) but up to now no page for these roses was loaded in HMF.

In the registrations at Stazione Sperimentale di San Remo of the roses Ninfea, Karen, Tottie, Saonara, Su Spantu, Ilaria, Folletto, the address of the breeding place (Pescara) and the address of the owner Giovanni Borgatti (Via G. Brosio 233, Pescara) are reported
As the breedings occurred between 1937 (Ninfea) and 1956 (Folletto) and the registrations between 1958 and 1965, in that period Giovanni Borgatti was living and working in Pescara.
Informations ex andrewandsally