He introduced European techniques in bronze casting, and new methods of modeling in wood, clay, plaster and wire armatures which exerted a significant role in the development of the modern Japanese sculptural arts.

He studied drawing and ivory-carving under Salvatore Lo Forte; however, his career was interrupted by military service during the Unification of Italy, and he served in the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860 under the command of Nino Bixio.

The curricula at the Technical Fine Arts School consisted of perspective drawing, copying of paintings and making plaster models, still-life and life.

Ragusa renewed his contract in 1879 for a second six-year term, but the Technical Fine Art School closed in January 1883 due to financial difficulties and a strengthening of public opinion towards preservation of Japanese traditional culture.

Upon his return to Italy, Ragusa opened the Scuola Superiore d'Arte Applicata in Palermo, and employed Kiyohara and his wife as instructors in an attempt to introduce Japanese lacquer techniques to Italian art students.

Eventually difficulties in obtaining the necessary raw materials put a halt on the program, and Kiyohara and his wife returned to Japan after six years.

In 1892 Ragusa sculpted the Monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi in Palermo: the bronze casting was made in Rome by Alessandro Nelli.