He was one of the founders of the scholarly Accademia dei Trasformati.
Imbonati was born in Milan to a prominent aristocratic family.
His wife, Francesca Bicetti dei Buttinoni, bore six children.
She was active in a variety of scholarly societies in Northern Italy and Rome, and helped prod him to sponsor (starting in 1743) meetings at his Palazzo Imbonati at Piazza San Fedele of the Accademia dei Trasformati, which included Carl'Antonio Tanzi, Domenico Balestrieri, Giuseppe Parini, Abbot Passeroni, Giorgio Giulini, Pietro Verri, Cesare Beccaria, and Maria Gaetana Agnesi.
The meetings were then moved to Villa Imbonati, now city hall, in Cavallasca.