Ernesto graduated in 1878 as an architect in Palermo in the Royal School of Engineering and Architecture (Italian: Regia Scuola di Applicazione per Ingegneri e Architetti).

Ernesto Basile created a stylistic hybrid consisting of Roman, Norman and Arab influences.

His father had started the construction of the opera house Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele in Palermo on 12 January 1874 but it was stopped for eight years from 1882 until 1890.

[2] In 1881 Basile took part in a competition held by Francesco Crispi the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, regarding the reconstruction of Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

[1] The construction of the Italian parliament in the Art Nouveau style was one of the most important moments of early modernism in architecture.