Born in Turin but educated at the Ecole Militaire de Fontainebleau, graduating in 1807, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant of infantry in the French Army.

He served under MacDonald in Calabria and in 1809 he joined the army of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, participating in the campaign in Venetia.

He fought at the Battle of Bautzen at the age of 24 and following the defeat of the combined Russian and Prussian forces in that engagement he was personally decorated with the Legion d'Honneur by Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1845 in collaboration with the knight and major Carlo de Candia, he created the large maritime map of Sardinia in 1: 250,000 scale, travel version.

He wrote Viaggio in Sardegna (Travels in Sardinia) in 1860, which extended the study of the island previously made by Francesco Cetti.