He was born in the municipality of Veggiano (Padova), on 7/9/1940. He studied singing with Elena Ceriati in Padova, Marcello del Monaco in Treviso and Vladimiro Badiali in Milan. After achieving distinctions in Italian singing contests, he first appeared in Vercelli as Pinkerton [Madama Butterfly] (1966). In 1969 he appeared in Parma and Modena as Turiddu [Cavalleria Rusticana] and as Renato Des Grieux [Manon Lescaut], a role with which he began an international career in Berlin (1970). Lisbon followed (1971, The Cloak, Il tabarro), Barcelona (1972), Vienna (1973, Tosca) and Bavarian State Opera in Munich (1973). He first appeared in Latin America as Pinkerton (1974, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires) and in the USA as Dick Johnson (Connecticut 1975, The girl of the West/La fanciulla del West]. At the New York Metropolitan Opera he sang the roles Don Alvaro [The Force of Destiny/La forza del destino] (1976), Macduff [Macbeth] and Mario Cavaradossi [Tosca].In Italy he appeared in La Scala di Milano, the Rome Opera (Opera di Roma), the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and the Royal Theatre of Turin (Teatro Regio di Torino). He participated in world premieres such as: La Lupa by Marco Tutino (1990) and revivals of rarely presented lyric works such as Fausta by Donizetti (1981, Rome) and Medici by Leoncavallo (1993, Frankfurt). In 1987, in the historic staging of Aida, with the Giza pyramids in the background, he appeared as Radames. In 2010 he participated in a tour in China with the Shanghai Filharmonic Orchestra and gave a recital at the Tianjin Opera. He has received significant honours and awards. With the Greek National Opera he collaborated once, performing as Radames (Herodeion, Athens Festival, 1992/93).