[2] He studied at the University of Florence, graduating in 1962,[3] and at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, where he was taught by Roland Barthes, Lucien Goldmann, and Algirdas Julien Greimas.

[5] Between 1984 and 1991, he collaborated in semiotician research conferences hosted at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.

[4] He developed a reputation for not publishing his research in the semiotic field, leading to his nickname of abbas agraphicus (the abbot who does not write),[3][5] to which Fabbri replied that "the professor is oral", transmitting more knowledge through meeting than texts.

[4] During his life, Fabbri sat of the committee of several cultural institutions, including the Fellini Museum in Rimini,[3] and the 400th anniversary of the Biblioteca Civica Gambalunga,[6] to which he donated fifty philosophical works and manuscripts in April 2019.

[7] Fabbri's appointments to other cultural entities included as:[3] In December 2019,[6] Fabbri was awarded the Sigismondo d'Oro, the highest civic award offered by Rimini's municipal government, alongside Marco Missiroli.