Francesco Maria Preti was an Italian architect. A pupil of Jacopo and Giordano Riccati, it is thanks to the first of the two that, in 1723, he was assigned the commission for the cathedral of Castelfranco Veneto, inside which his body is buried in the highest part of the main nave. Towards 1732 he will be called by Alvise Pisani to replace the Frigimelica in the construction of his villa in Stra. In Castelfranco he also designed the Academic Theater, built between 1754 and 1780, which served both the representation of shows and the meetings of the local Academy. In Belluno, on the other hand, Palazzo Minerva, home to the ancient Accademia degli Anistamici, is built.
Among the other civil architectural works he built, Villa Spineda is mentioned. He is also the author of numerous churches between Castelfranco and Treviso: in Vallà, Tombolo, Salvatronda and Caselle. Despite its apparently peripheral activity, it is updated on the main architectural issues of the time and is in contact with the Temanza and with Paolo Frisi. In 1780, Giordano Riccati published the posthumously Architectural Elements by Mr. Francesco Maria Preti.