Veronica Mainetti is an Italian entrepreneur, environmental activist, sustainable developer and visual artist. Founder/CEO o
RYSIT
Owner o
The Sorgente Group

Training and beginnings

Upon graduation at European Institute of Design in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Mainetti moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 2003, attending the Parsons Institute of Design. In the same year she took the helm a
The Sorgente Group
overseeing real estate investment operations in the US. She took part in the acquisition of a significant stake in the

Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is a , Art Deco skyscraper in the East Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Located at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, it is the tallest brick building in the world wit ...

—reselling in 2008—and for the acquisition of the majority stake in the

Flatiron Building The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a 22-story, steel-framed triangular building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinke ...

in New York.

Career

Conservation and redevelopment of historic buildings in the United States have been Mainetti's main focus since 2003, including the current ongoing restoration of New York City's Flatiron Building. Carried out through research conducted by Veronica Mainetti, all of these projects have been dedicated to exemplifying sustainable and environmentally responsible development practices. 2012 saw the completion of two redeveloped buildings in New York City. These loft conversions, known as ''Giglio on Greene'' in Greene Street,

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

became the first under a new Giglio certificate in sustainable development practice created by Mainetti as President of The Sorgente Group. She participated in increasing the Group's assets under management with the acquisition of the Fine Arts Building in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 2012 (resold in 2016) and the Clock Tower Building in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

in 2013. In 2017, The Sorgente Group's 60 White Street opened in

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

, being the first

sustainable Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

restoration of an historical building of its kind in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. During the building's construction in 2015, a documentary film titled ''Giglio on White'' began production as well, helmed by Mainetti and filmmaker Daniel Fickle to chronicle the story of 60 White's redevelopment and the struggles along the way to implement modern sustainability practices in code with the historically landmarked building's restoration. Giglio on White is currently in post-production, with no release date set. She received the ''America Award'' of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2017. Named by the New York Post as one of the 20 most influential people in New York real estate, and ranked 3 years in a row in the Power 100.

Other work

Mainetti is also a visual artist and a practicing rock climber usin
ethical minded art
an
wellness activities
in continuation of her background as a sustainable developer.

Conceptual photography

Mainetti's personal work outside the development world continues in the expression of the dualities of nature & humanity, drawing heavily from her commitment to improving the way we live through environmental awareness, activism and sustainable practice. Her on-going conceptual photography series often explore common themes of rebirth in the human condition, likening the human body to Mother Earth and vice versa. In Spring 2018, an interactive photo/video exhibit titled ''The Rebirth'' showed at the Flatiron Building, in the exclusiv

On display 24 hours a day through the front windows of the building, ''The Rebirth'' looped continuously for the duration of the exhibit, witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people on a weekly basis. For

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...

2019, RYSIT projected life-sized imagery over the facade of the Flatiron Building at night, featuring motion graphics of oceans waves climbing the height of the building to represent where global sea level would affect New York City if the ice sheets of Greenland/Antarctica were to melt as a result of global warming. Mainetti incorporated climbing into the event, filming a short video of herself using safety gear to scale the entire height of the building. As originally conceptualized, climbing the outside of the Flatiron was not an option for this event, so she and her crew took the cameras inside, ascending 280 ft upward in the stairwell, finishing the symbolic final 5 ft outside the building, previewing her climb for the general public through video feeds in the window-front gallery of the building. With Mainetti at the top of the building about 220 ft of projected ocean waves, the event was meant to show real-time visuals of how global sea level could rise as much as 220 ft, nearly the full height of the Flatiron, which is 285 feet respectively.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mainetti, Veronica Italian chief executives