Silvio De Pretto was born in Schio in 1848, his family who were from the area, belonging to the intellectual, clerical and professional middle classes.
His father Pietro sent him to the Foscarini College in Venice to study and later to the University of Padua, where he obtained a degree in engineering and mathematics.
In Verviers, in Belgium, he specialised in the mechanical and wool craft fields. On his return to Italy, he worked in Schio at the Alessandro Rossi Wool Mill and then in Piovene Rocchette.
In 1884 De Pretto created an engineering foundry in a disused mill situated at the entrance to Schio. He began by repairing looms, then soon after he introduced new products such as hydraulic turbines and machines for paper-mills.
De Pretto was asked by Alessandro Rossi to collaborate in the construction of the New Workers’ Neighbourhood designed by the Vicenza architect Antonio Caregaro Negrin.
On this basis, Silvio supervised the building of the schools, gave his own contribution to the activity of the Rossi textile establishment and to the creation of the Schio-Piovene Rocchette railway.
In 1888 Silvio De Pretto opened a Professional Training School in Schio with the contribution of the Municipality, it was renamed as the School of Arts and Crafts in 1913.
He was concerned about possible ways to improve the area and promoted the construction of the Dolomiti hotel at Pian delle Fugazze, the creation of the Schio-Rovereto International Automobile Society and the Committee for increasing the number of visitors. He participated as a shareholder in public concerns such as the Co-operative joint-Stock Company for the District tramways and railways and the Schio Electricity Company, as well as prestigious technical and scientific enterprises such as the Society for the Construction and Operation of the First Airship founded by Almerico from Schio.
In 1901 he became the Mayor of Schio, an office which culminated his long political activity.
After his engineering company had merged with the Swiss Escher Wyss company, De Pretto initially held the office of Managing Director and later Honorary President.
He died in Schio in 1933.