Impresa Banzatti e Villa
Name
Impresa Banzatti e Villa
Gender
Not Applicable (General Information Indicator)
Descriptive Note
Aleardo Emanuele Banzatti and Faustino Villa were prominent Italian engineers who specialized in combining industrial commerce with temporary Art Nouveau architecture. Their professional partnership flourished during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, after they both graduated from Turin's Regia Scuola di Applicazione per Ingegneri (today's Politecnico).
As early as the 1898 National Exposition in Turin, the duo represented the local committees of the Sardinian provinces.
By 1911, their firm operated as a modern agency providing integrated services for architecture and industry. The strategic choice of location at Via Milano 1, just steps from the City Hall, enabled them to centrally manage both building permit applications and dealings with the foreign delegations that flocked to Turin during the celebrations marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Kingdom of Italy. The Official General Catalogue of the 1911 Exhibition documents them representing heavy machinery titans, including British firm Muirhead & Co. (telegraphic and electrical hardware) and Germany's Gustav Mechtersheimer.
At the Exposition of Turin 1911, their architectural masterpiece was the elegant Strega Liqueur Kiosk, located near the Monumental Bridge designed to celebrate the famous herbal liqueur. They also worked as the structural engineers for the Talmone kiosk, for which they handled the detailed design, structural calculations, and construction supervision. They translated the Egyptian decorative scheme into a solid, temporary pavilion-style structure, coordinating the carpentry and joinery work as well as the installation of the decorative stucco elements.
Roles
Makers, Architects and Engineers
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