He studied singing with Bruno Sutti in Mantua, and made his professional debut as Colline in Puccini's La Bohème in 1960 in Fano, a town and commune in the Marche region of Italy.
At the Festival of the Due Mondi in Spoleto in 1969, he was Mustafà in L'Italiana in Algeri, and at La Scala, two years later, again Don Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Claudio Abbado.
In 2000 he performed as the Sacristan in Puccini's Tosca in Rome opposite Ines Salazar and Luciano Pavarotti, with Placido Domingo conducting.
He performed with various other famous singers as Samuel Ramey, Paolo Montarsolo, Leo Nucci, Luigi Alva, Hermann Prey, Luciano Pavarotti, Teresa Berganza, Lucia Valentini Terrani, Marilyn Horne, Kathleen Battle, Cecilia Bartoli and others.
In 1994 he released his first book Anche il buffo nel suo piccolo, a collection of memories, anecdotes and observations.