A palaeontologist born in Camerino, he completed his university studies in Pisa, where he was awarded a degree in mathematics in 1879. Inspired by the lessons taught by Giuseppe Meneghini (1811-1889), he became interested in the study of geology and palaeontology, a discipline in which he specialised from 1878 to 1880, being awarded a scholarship to the University of Munich for the academic year 1881-1882. Here he had the opportunity to study this subject more deeply under the guidance of the famous German palaeontologist Karl Alfred von Zittel (1839-1904) and to publish, in the German review Palaeontographica, his study of the Liassic fossils of La Spezia. Upon returning to Pisa, where he lived for the rest of his life, he taught courses in palaeontology at the University until, in 1889, he was appointed temporary lecturer and Director of the Institute and its Museum of Geology. Promoted to full professor in 1893 he founded, two years later, the review Palaeontographia Italica, a prestigious collection of monographs that is still published today. He also made important contributions to the editing of the Geological Chart of Italy. A corresponding member of the Academy of the Lincei and a member of the Academy of the Georgofili, he published, in addition to numerous contributons on palaeontology, a Manuale di geologia tecnica con speciale riguardo alle applicazioni per l'Ingegneria [Manual of technical geology with special reguard to its applications for engineering] (1928).