Education
Born in Turin on the 12th of June 1857, Simonetti left his family in Bologna (this can be gleaned from his letter to Mr Hill (of Hills and Sons) written in 1922,) and completed his studies under Francesco Bianchi, Eugenio Cavallini, Giuseppe Gamba, Charles Dancla, regarded as the last exponent of the classical French school of violin playing, and Camillo Sivori, the only pupil of Niccolo Paganini.