 A native of Cesena, Romagna, Bonci started out as an apprentice shoemaker.He secured a music scholarship to the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, working for five years with Carlo Pedrotti (the teacher of the heroic tenor Francesco Tamagno) and then Felice Coen.He also had private singing lessons in Paris with the retired baritone Enrico Delle Sedie.