Rino Levi was an architect and urban planner. As son of Italian immigrants, he entered the High School and Application for Civil Architects in Milan in 1921. In 1924 he moved to the School of Architecture of Rome. There, he meets Adalberto Libera (1903 - 1963) and Marcello Piacentini (1881 - 1960) in whose office he did practice. In 1925 he published in O Estado de S. Paulo. He returned to Brazil in 1926 and worked for a year in the Santos Construction Company.

In 1927 he works as an independent architect and founded the office Rino Levi Architects. His first major work was the Columbus Building at Avenida Brigadeiro Luis Antonio (first apartment complex in the metropolis, demolished in 1971 ), the Cine Ufa Palace in St. John Avenue, the Medici residence in Santo Amaro and Sarti Building in Republic Square. These rationalist buildings have simple volumes, with evident structure.

The project Cine Ufa Palace (1936) was a role model for other cinemas projects: Cine Universe (1936), Cine Art-Palace Recife (1937), the Cine Ipiranga (1943) and the Theatre Culture Arts (1942).

Rino Levi participated in the formation and construction of the Institute of Architects of Brazil and was an active member.