He was born in Florence on 24/5/1932 and passed away in the same city on 7/4/2008. He studied voice at the Lyric Center of the Florence Opera under Flaminio Contini and Bruno Bartoleti. He began his stage career by singing small roles in Florence's Teatro Comunale in the 1953/54 season and in 1954 made his professional debut as Zachary in Verdi's Nabucco. He participated in the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 1958, appearing as Douglas in Rossini’s opera The Lady of the Lake [La donna del lago]. He sang this role many times in Verona's Arena Festival (1968, 1975, 1982, 1984/86). In his career he sang at La Scala in Milan (since 1967) and in many Italian cities (Verona, Bologna, Naples, Palermo, Rome and Parma). In the rest of Europe, he appeared as guest soloist in many major opera houses such as in the Vienna State Opera, Monnaie Theatre in Brussels, Opera Royal de Wallonie, Budapest Opera, City of Mexico, opera houses in Genk, Toulouse, Marseille, The Grand Theatre de Liceu in Barcelona, San Carlos Theatre in Lisbon, Edinburgh Festival, The Metropolitan Opera of New York (1979). He was an acclaimjed singer of Italian romantic opera composers, such as Bellini, Donizzetti, Rossini and Cerubini, as well as operas from the Slavic repertory. From 1968 to 1997 he appeared regularly at the Opera of Chicago as a key performer of Italian bel canto roles. His repertory also included operas by Puccini (Turandot, Gianni Schicchi, La Bohème), Debussy (Pelléas and Mélisande/Pelléas et Mélisande) and Mussorgsky (Boris Godunov). There are many of his recordings available (DGG, Eurodisc, Decca, Italia, MRF, Paragon, EJS, Opera d’Oro). He collaborated with the GNO once,in the opera Moses in Egypt [Mosè in Egitto] (Herodeion, Athens Festival, 1961).