He was born in Sanremo, province of Imperia, on 16 November 1882, the son of Edoardo Maraghini, principal of the Lyceum of Vercelli.

He served on various ships, including the armoured cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi; after commanding the gunboat Volturno with the rank of lieutenant, he was assigned on the armoured cruiser Pisa, participating in the Italo-Turkish War (1911- 1912) in which he earned a War Cross for Military Valor for distinguishing himself in command of a landing company in Tobruk and Derna.

He continued to serve on submarines even after the war, commanding Sebastiano Veniero and Luigi Galvani, until 1923, when he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the command-in-chief of the Fleet, embarking on the battleship Conte di Cavour.

[1] He was promoted to rear admiral in 1934 and vice admiral in 1936, being appointed commander of Maricosom, the command-in-chief of the Italian submarine fleet; between 1937 and 1938 he was in command of the 3rd Naval Division, with flag on the heavy cruiser Trieste, and then the 8th Naval Division, with flag on the light cruiser Duca degli Abruzzi.

Over thirty military vessels (the old light cruiser Taranto, three destroyers, five torpedo boats, six submarines, three corvettes, one minelayer, one ammunition transport, two naval tankers, two landing craft, five military tug, and two motor torpedo boats) were thus scuttled before German forces occupied La Spezia on 10 September.