A bold explorer, he was born at Badia di Cantignano in the Province of Lucca. A series of mournful events in his family led him immigrate in search of fortune. In 1851 he journeyed to Africa, where he remained for years, perfecting his skill in the art of enbalming birds. His innate curiosity led him to explore areas of that continent hitherto unknown, collecting with scrupulous care detailed geographical, ethnographical, linguistic and naturalist speciments. Remaining from his four voyages on the African continent (1851-1859; 1860-1866; 1871-1877; 1878-1882) are his reports, among them the one called Dell’arrivo fra i Niam-Niam e del soggiorno sul lago Tsana in Abissinia [On arriving among the Niam-Niam and staying on Lake Tsana in Abyssinia] (1877), and the naturalist and ethnographic collections now found in Lucca and Florence. Nominated a member of the Royal Lucca Academy of Science, Letters and the Arts, and awarded important recognition by the Italian Geographic Society and the Government, he died at Carcoggi, in Sudan, on January 7, 1882.