Federico was the eldest son of Niccolò Pescetto and Benedetta Colla, descendant of an illustrious family from Celle Ligure.

[4] At the height of the unification of Italy in 1860, Pescetto stood for election and was returned from the Varazze constituency as a representative of the centre-left.

[7] Eventually however he agreed to enter the Rattazzi cabinet when it was formed on 10 April 1867 - he took on the portfolio of Foreign Minister on an interim basis for two days as well the Ministry of the Navy.

Among the measures he introduced was an unsuccessful one to use navy corvettes and their crews to establish a commercial navigation company serving destinations in Italy, the Mediterranean, and the United States.

The proposal was strongly opposed by Nino Bixio, who argued that it would be an imprudent use of naval resources and detrimental to the morale of the ships’ crews.

[10]: 260–261  Pescetto was sent to Alessandria by Prime Minister Rattazzi to persuade Garibaldi to give up his aspiration to take Rome and retire again to Caprera.

[11] Pescetto, an admirer of Garibaldi, allowed him to leave captivity without securing the commitments he had been instructed to require.

In addition to this, Pescetto was accused in some quarters of personally contributing to the condemnation of the disgraced Admiral Persano.