Based on the analysis of extensive documentation produced directly by Negrelli and which has remained virtually unexplored to date, the essay offers an articulate profile of the Tyrolean engineer Luigi/Alois Negrelli. He is remembered by histo-riography – with an often-distorted ideal profile – above all for one of the most im-portant civil engineering achievements of the 19th century: the cutting of the Isthmus of Suez. He made a decisive contribution to this work not only in terms of design. He also involved the Central European society in its realization. However, his work as an engineer was not limited to designing the canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. In fact, it extended to a vast network of communication infra-structures throughout the Central European area and northern Italy, which shows his multifaceted design versatility and at the same time his high ethical profile. At a time when national ideologies were degenerating into opposing nationalisms, Negrelli stood up to build bridges, construct roads and railways, to open channels that would make relations between different realities and nations easier in a climate of shared collaboration.