However, with the help of relatives and family friends, he was able to complete his primary and secondary education, enrolling in the University of Padua in 1862 to study mathematics.

While at Sondrio he formed a working relationship with the geologist Torquato Taramelli and with the mining engineer and mountaineer Felice Giordano.

[1] Lovisato pointed out the extraordinary similarity between the coast of South America and Africa, and suggested that the two continents could once have been linked.

[1] Felice Giordano recommended that Lovisato be asked to join an expedition to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego sponsored by the Italian Geographical Society and funded by the Argentine government.

[1] On this trip Decio Vinciguerra was officially both zoologist and botanist, but in fact Carlos Luigi Spegazzini from Buenos Aires handled the botanical work.

[4] Lovisato's diaries of the expedition cover a range of subjects other than geology, including palaeontology, botany and ethnography.