He was one of the most important protagonists in the history of Italian nineteenth-century architecture. His initial adherence to the Classicism of Vicenza and his experience as designer and decorator is revealed in the restoration of a number of Palladian monuments and the renovation of the Villas of the Salvi, Nievo, Cabianca and Fogazzaro nobles.
He enthusiastically shared the ideals of the Italian Risorgimento and distinguished himself as a military engineer during the defence of Venice (1849 -58). He soon embraced the poetry of the picturesque which was promoted in the Venetian region by G. Jappelli, F. Bagnara and L. Cadorin, joined the mediaeval trend in Italian eclecticism inaugurated by C. Boito from Milan, and elaborated architectonic forms that pre-announced Modernism.
His typical Venetian sensitiveness, sustained by a sound scientific background which matured in the avant-garde environment of European capital cities, can be appreciated in the innumerable gardens and romantic parks created for the former nobility and the recent industrial middle classes.
Alessandro Rossi saw him as the architect of the new ‘civilisation of the machine’, capable of interpreting and accomplishing his social and urban innovations.
For this reason he entrusted him with the enlargement of the Schio Wool Mill with the creation of the Jacquard Garden (1859-78), the design of the New Workers’ Neighbourhood (1872) with the creation of dwellings and services;
the extension to the Cathedral of S. Pietro (1877) with the construction of the new parish priest’s house, along with the renovation of his birthplace in Via Pasini (1877) and Palazzo Maraschin (1877), part of the industrial village of Piovene Rocchette (1869-82) and the Villa and Model Farm in Santorso (1875-1884).
We should also mention the Church of S. Giorgio in the Poleo neighbourhood, the Panciera Small Villa in Via Rovereto, Palazzo Tamburini in Via Porta di Sotto and the Pizzolato house in piazza A. Rossi, all of which are in Schio.
During the same period, he designed the Recoaro Spa Park and created the grand balneo-therapeutic complex of the Central Springs and the Tonello Villa.
He was an untiring scholar and enthusiastic speaker, he actively participated at artistic congresses and national and international exhibitions where he upheld the Italian origins of the romantic garden, shared the theory of scientific restoration, promoted university preparation of architects and proposed team-work as way of successfully accomplishing works of art.