 Born in Paderno Fasolaro (now Paderno Ponchielli) near Cremona, then Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old.In 1856 he wrote his first opera—it was based on Alessandro Manzoni's great novel "The Betrothed" ("I promessi sposi")—and it was as an opera composer that he eventually found fame.His early career was disappointing.