Miari & Giusti produced cars designed by Enrico Bernardi of Verona
(Angelo Paratico) Convinced of the future of the car and the motorcycle, which he had invented, the engineer Enrico Zeno Bernardi (1841–1919) launched his business in 1896 with a workshop to manufacture them.
Born in Verona but resident in Quinzano
He was a native of and resided in Quinzano (VR), but was born in Verona on 20 May 1841 to Lauro, a physician, and Bianca Carlotti. He completed his secondary education there, whilst Laura obtained a degree in mathematics in Padua in 1863. In 1875–76, he moved to Vicenza to manage the Mori foundry and turning shop. In 1879, he was appointed to the chair of hydraulic, thermal and agricultural machinery at the University of Padua.
Miari & Giusti was the world’s first car manufacturer
The car company was established in Padua in partnership with two young Paduan engineers, Giacomo Miari and Francesco Giusti Del Giardino, with the aim of industrialising Bernardi’s prototype.
Miari & Giusti was the world’s first car manufacturer and was based in Via San Massimo, Padua. They produced a tricycle model and then a four-wheeled spider with a 2.5-horsepower engine capable of reaching 35 kilometres per hour. After producing a hundred cars, a lack of sufficient capital forced them to close down after two years of operation, despite their cars being technically superior to the Fiats produced from 1899 onwards. The factory was located just a few metres from the national headquarters of the RIVS, where the factory on Via San Massimo in Padua stood, formerly the site of the Lanificio Marcon, which had been destroyed by fire in 1892.
Cars were selling well in Padua. As early as 1903, there were 49 car owners in the city, including, of course, Bernardi himself, the Marquis Pietro Buzzaccarini, Count Paolo Camerini and Count Luigi Donà Dalle Rose; but there was also a woman, Countess Emma Treves Corinaldi. In Padua, number 1 was assigned to the limited partnership Cassis & C., number 2 to Enrico Bernardi, and number 3 to Count Giacomo Miari de’ Cumani; alongside the early owners, who were generally members of the nobility, were professionals, lawyers, industrialists and clinicians such as Professor Felice Lussana, nicknamed ‘Girardengo’ because of his large handlebar moustache.
The three-wheeled vehicle owned by Bernardi is currently on display at the “Enrico Bernardi Museum of Machines” at the University of Padua, alongside other vintage engines and models, still in working order after 130 years.
A denied legacy
A celestial body bears the name of Enrico Bernardi, but had he been born in the United States, we are certain that Hollywood would already have dedicated a film to him; and although there are small specialist studies devoted to his work, a proper biography is lacking. In Padua, they should commemorate the first factory of these beloved and reviled cars with a plaque or a monument.
