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Spirito Antonio Benedetto Cav. Nicolis di Robilant
was born on 20th October 1722 and died on 1st May 1801 in Turin. Nicolis di Robilant was the first engineer of his majest the king and a mineralogist.
In service at the Royal Body of Artillery since 1742 and inspector of mines since 1770, later on Nicolis di Robilant was a commander of the Body of Engineers.
In 1749 he was sent with four other cadets of Royal Schools to make an enquiry in Northern Western Europe (Saxony, Turingia, Harz, region of Hannover, Boemia and High Hungary) around the mines and the metallurgic plants, within the restoring plan desired by Carlo Emanuele III. Member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, Nicolis di Robilant was also a member of the Royal Academy of Agriculture.
From 1762 to 1796 he was at the School of Metallurgy and the Laboratory of Chemistry of Turin. In 1786 he directed the remelting of the currency and in 1788 was appointed as prime engineer.
From 1788 to 1798 he took the office of head at the Congress of Builders. Nicolis di Robilant was director of scenes in the Royal Theatre of Turin.
His architectonic production was very extended in Piedmont: let us remember the church of S. Croce in Sant'Albano di Stura (before 1750), S. Giovanni Decollato said of the Misericordia in Turin (1751), The Hospital of San Lazzaro (1771) in Alba, the hospital of Saluzzo (1770 approx.), already designed by F. Gallo and ended by Giuseppe Maria Talucchi.
In France he cared to implement some Thermal Baths at Aix, whose design was started in 1776 on studies already made in 1768.
The architectonic activity was coupled with the urbanistic work, as shown by the drawing up of the Regulatory Plan of Courege (1780).
Nicolis di Robilant was author of several works on the metallurgy, giving and important support to the manufacturing of appliances and temporary machines. We can remember: De l'utilité et de l'importance des voyages, et des courses dans son propre pays (On the helpfulness and importance of travels and on courses in one's own country), published in 1790 and Viaggi mineralogici in Sassonia (Mineralogic travels in Saxony) (1788).
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