After completing his studies at the high school of his hometown he entered the Royal Military Academy of Turin, from where he left in June 1859, assigned with the rank of second lieutenant to the 12th Infantry Regiment of the "Casale" Brigade.

In 1866 he participated in the Third Italian War of Independence as the official Staff General Enrico Cialdini, and subsequently transferred to the Division of Palermo, the stifling of revolt in the city.

[3] The Italo-Abyssinian relations had gradually become increasingly tense starting from 12 April 1886, when there was the massacre of the exploratory mission led by Count Gian Pietro Porro[3] near Gildessa[1] on the road from Zeila to Harar.

[1] Genè's response was negative, and he also began to reinforce the Italian positions of Saati and Uaà by sending a reserve column made up of about 700 men, under the command of De Cristoforis.

[1] De Cristoforis, although seriously outnumbered, did not refuse the clash; he arranged the men on two hills joined by a slight depression, in a semicircle formation about 500 meters long, and accepted the fight.