He was born in Racalmuto of Sicily on 06/05/1920 and died in Rome on 15/03/2007. He studied in Parma under Isaia Avanzini and then at the Opera School of Milan's La Scala under Emilio Ghirardini. He was an exceptional interpreter of the Italian repertoire. He is famous for his interpretations of leading dramatic tenor roles in the operas: Rigoletto, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, La traviata, Aida and Pagliacci. He made his professional debut in 1949 at the Teatro Rossini di Pesaro as Radamès [Aida]. Thereafter he appeared in Italian and international stages, such as: the "San Carlo" theaters of Naples, "La Fenice" of Venice, "Bellini" of Catania, "Petruzzelli" of Bari, the Rome Opera, the Festival at Terme di Caracalla, the Arena di Verona. He also sang in Parma, Palermo, Mantua, Turin, Zurich, Rio de Janeiro, Spain, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, Monaco, Caracas, etc. He participated in a tour to Japan (1956). He appeared at La Scala as Ippolito [Fedra by Ildebrando Pizzetti (1959-60) and in Philadelphia (U.S.A.) as Pinkerton [Madama Butterfly] (1961) alongside Renata Tebaldi. He collaborated with prominent, mostly Italian, artists of the early post-war decades, such as: Antonietta Stella, Virginia Zeani, Magda Olivero, Elena Nicolai, Giulietta Simionato, Nicola Moscona, Giuseppe Taddei, Carlo Tagliabue, etc. 1955 marked the first tiem Mirella Freni appeared with him at the Municipal Theater of Modena. At the GNO, he appeared as Canio [Pagliacci] (Olympia Theater, 1961-62, 1963-64), Radamès [Aida] (Olympia Theater, 1963-64) and Don José [Carmen] (Olympia Theater, 1963-64).