Born in Turin, the son of a jurist, he studied composition at the Naples Conservatory under Paolo Serrao.

His most well-known work is A basso porto (At the Lower Harbor), which premiered in Cologne on 18 April 1894 to great popular acclaim.

[2][3] A basso porto was first performed in England by the Carl Rosa Co. in March 1899 at Brighton, and by the Queen's Hall Orchestra on 11 October 1900, under Henry Wood.

[1] The opera focuses on the slums of Naples, where Spinelli used mandolins and guitars in several places in his orchestral score.

[1] More importantly, Spinelli composed an intermezzo for mandolins and orchestra, as a prelude to the third and last act, a departure from the customary instrumentation.