Benvenuto Pesce Maineri

Benvenuto Francesco Pesce Maineri (Genoa, 1865 – Genoa, 1935) was an Italian architect, engineer, and urban planner, known for his contributions to the Art Nouveau and Eclecticism styles in Italy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Biography Palazzo at Via XX Settembre, No. 26, designed by Pesce-Maineri Palazzo at No. 36, Via XX Settembre, another work by Pesce-Maineri

Benvenuto Francesco Pesce-Maineri was born in Genoa in 1865. He studied at the Royal Polytechnic of Milan, graduating in 1897. Engineer, architect, and professor, he had his studio at the central via XX Settembre 5-7 and, later, in Cornigliano, an elegant district with noble buildings, in Via Tonale and then at his own residence in Via Edomondo De Amicis 19. At the end of the nineteenth century, he was also active in journalism, writing for the monthly magazine L'edilizia moderna (Milan) by Luca Beltrami, for Il Monitore Tecnico by Achille Manfredini, and for the magazine Arte italiana decorativa e industriale by Camillo Boito. Since 1896, he became a member of the Società ligure di storia patria. In 1903, he married Maria at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Grace in Tagliolo.

Pesce Maineri operated in the Ligurian capital at an important moment for the city when its layout was changing and large and relevant residential neighborhoods were emerging. He was mainly involved in the renewal of via XX Settembre, a street conceived following the dismantling of the ancient Via Giulia, designing some important buildings. As a member of the Società ligure di storia patria, he designed the building at civic number 36, inspired by Venetian architecture, and that at civic number 26, a palace with maritime thematization with rich aquatic decoration and the colors, red and white, of the flag of Genoa. In 1904, he designed in the Staglieno district the building of the Workers' housing by the Società L'Economica, commissioned by Gustavo Dufour, completed around 1907, a company that dealt with the construction of many popular buildings in the capital.

He also worked on the major urban revolutions that, starting from the lower part of via XX Settembre, which opens onto the area in front of the Genova Brignole railway station and the Bisagno river, reached Corso Italia. For twenty years, from 1897 to 1917, he proposed a long series of projects for the redevelopment of the area and the burial of the stream, until the approval of the 1917 project by the city council. The most significant transformation of this urban area, namely the covering of the Bisagno and the regulatory plan of the adjacent areas, was finally resolved in 1919 and completed in 1930. Among the most significant studies used for the implementation of the intervention was that of Benvenuto Pesce Maineri, as well as Gaetano Orzali, Renzo Picasso, Giuseppe Cannovale, and others. In Venice, he proposed to the council an extensive project for the complete urbanization of the Sant'Elena island. He also designed the plan for a basilica "Salvator Mundi in memoriam Cristofori Columbi inanuensis", which was supposed to be built near the Scalinata delle Caravelle in the area called "spianata Bisagno", in what would later become Piazza della Vittoria, in Genoa.

As a Dominican tertiary, in Savona, he drafted the project for the redevelopment of the municipal cemetery. He was also the designer of the Castello di Quassolo, in Carcare.

He was an esteemed academician at the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti for the architecture class.

Notable works Palazzo at via XX Settembre 26, Genoa Palazzo at via XX Settembre 36, Genoa Workers' housing in Staglieno, Genoa

Books