He was born in Piacenza on 25 July 1910, the son of Alfonso Cigala Fulgosi, a career officer of the Royal Italian Army, and of Anna Teresa Osio.

He served on the destroyers Lanzerotto Malocello, Leone Pancaldo (where he was promoted to lieutenant), and Scirocco and was then appointed adjutant to the commander-in-chief of the Naval Department of La Spezia.

In 1936 he was assigned on the battleship Conte di Cavour as the third fire control officer, after which he held the post of aide of Admiral Ferdinando of Savoy-Genoa from late 1936 to June 1940.

[1][2][4][3] On the night of 9 September 1943, the day following after the proclamation of the Armistice of Cassibile, he sailed from La Spezia with his ship as part of the battlefleet under the command of Admiral Carlo Bergamini.

The fleet initially headed for La Maddalena in Sardinia, but was informed that that base had been seized by German forces and was shortly thereafter attacked by the Luftwaffe which sank the flagship Roma, killing Bergamini.

In November 1944 he was promoted to commander, and later in the war he was among the proponents of a landing of the San Marco Regiment near Trieste, in order from preventing the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army from seizing the city, but the plan was not authorized by the Allies.