His name was present in all the events that streamlined the state capital in the 1950s, as the Brazilian Comedy Theater and Film Company Vera Cruz.
In 1948, he founded São Paulo Museum of Modern Art and, in 1951, created the Biennial, in a style similar to that of Venice Biennale, which he visited several times.
With the help of his first wife, Yolanda Penteado, Matarazzo could house a makeshift shed, hundreds of works from different countries she visited and convinced them to participate.
In 1954, with the celebration of the fourth centenary of the city, which was also part of its organizing committee, the Biennale was able to gather important works such as Guernica, Picasso's huge mural.
Powerful, authoritarian and possessive, until 1975, Ciccillo was solely responsible for the exposure, imposing its determinations and creating numerous areas of friction.