As a boy and a young man, he studied in the local school of design and painting with the engraver Giuseppe Marri (1788–1852), architect Pietro Tomba (1774–1846), and painter Achille Farina.

[1] With the help of local patrons, in 1852 he traveled to Florence for five years to study at the Academy of Fine Arts under Ciseri, Pollastrini, and Ussi.

[2] He returned to Faenza, and in 1864 became a teacher at the Scuola Comunale di Disegno, which he transformed into a School of Arts and Crafts.

Among his masterworks are: La Famiglia Castellani (1867–69; Pinacoteca di Faenza) and the Lady with Umbrella.

However, a reappraisal in 1955, to mark the exhibition of nineteenth-century artists from Romagna, finally noticed his work, praising him in a flattering manner.