Giuseppe Tontodonati was born in Abruzzo, a region in central Italy in the town of Scafa (at that time part of San Valentino AC municipality) in the Pescara province in 1917.
Giuseppe Tontodonati at that time was in the city of Volos (Greece) and like many other Italian soldiers, was captured by the German Army and deported to Germany not as prisoners of war but as Italian Military Internees at first to the Stammlager IV/B Mühlberg-Elbe registered with number IV/B 244512, and then moved to the Lager IV/D in Turgau and then to Pieteritz / Wittenberg as soldier/worker IMI by the local Bayerische Stickstoff-Werke, until mid-1945.
Giuseppe Tontodonati participated very actively in the cultural life of Bologna coming into contact with the main local artists and intellectuals.
He also founded and directed as President, the Centro Internazionale delle Arti – CIDA a cultural center of Arts active in Bologna from 1973 till 1985.
The last one, Da Lu Piccule Resurgemende a Porta Pije – L'Abruzzo dai moti carbonari all'Unità d'Italia fino a brigantaggio post-unitario (2011) has been included into the official activities of the 150th year of Italian nationhood celebration by the Abruzzo Region.