The son of Pietro di Crollalanza, originally from Chiavenna, he was born into an old Milanese family and was a teacher in various high schools.

His printed works made him famous and placed him among the world's leading scholars of heraldry and genealogy of all times.

di Crollalanza to Teresa Zoli, Goffredo was born in 1855 in Fermo, who succeeded his father as director of the journals.

His Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana ("yearbook of the Italian nobility"), a genealogical almanach of Italian noble families and the first of its kind in the new Kingdom of Italy, started publication in 1879; as with the Giornale, his sons, first Goffredo, later Aldo, took over publication after his death.

publishing house (Società Araldica Genealogica Internazionale) and then by the Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana Foundation Trust.