In 1909 he began attending the
Royal Military Academy of Modena, from which he graduated with the rank of
2nd lieutenant of the
Bersaglieri, subsequently attending the School of Application. A volunteer in Eritrea, he was soon promoted to lieutenant and then captain. Returning to Italy in December 1915, he was assigned to the 29th Infantry Regiment and later to the
6th Bersaglieri Regiment. He was taken prisoner in May 1916 on Mount Meada during the
Battles of Asiago Plateau and transferred to the
Sigmundsherberg POW camp in Austria. During his captivity he was promoted to major. At the end of the conflict, he was assigned to the Armistice Commission in Vienna until the summer of 1919. Returning to the 6th Bersaglieri Regiment, he became its Adjutant Major. In 1926 he entered the War School in Turin and during the three-year period he was promoted to
lieutenant colonel. He was later transferred to the
7th Bersaglieri Regiment, and in 1933 he became an instructor at the Central Infantry School in Civitavecchia, before returning to the regiment in 1935. Promoted to colonel in 1937, he became commander of the
12th Bersaglieri Regiment and subsequently commander of the Bersaglieri Reserve Officer Cadet School and the Bersaglieri Reserve NCO Cadet School in
Pula. Promoted to
brigadier general, in 1941 he became commander of the military zone of Istria. In 1942 he became commander of the 2nd Marching Brigade, part of the
8th Marching Infantry Division, and later commander of the divisional infantry of the
Superga Division. In Tunisia he valiantly commanded the "
Abschnitt Benigni" on the Kairouan front. Captured in May 1943 at the surrender of the Axis forces in Tunisia, with his commander Gen. Fernando Gelich, he was imprisoned in the prison camp of
Saida in Algeria until the end of 1945. Returning to Italy, he was assigned to the Ministry of Defense and subsequently promoted to major general and placed in the reserve. He died in
Rome on 27 May 1961. == Awards and decorations ==