His father emigrated from Pasiano Pordenone (near Udine) in 1924 and his mother was a second generation Italian Canadian born in Fort William. Roy Piovesana grew up in Fort William"s East End attending Saint Peter"s Roman Catholic School, an institution that was truly multicultural.
He also attended Fort William Collegiate Institute graduating in 1961. In 1965 Piovesana graduated from Lakehead University with an Honours Bachelor of Arts (History).
He is one of three children born to Enrico Piovesana (1900–1987) and Christina Brescia (1913–1990). Five years later he received his Master of Arts (History) from Lakehead University. In 1965 he began his teaching career at Westgate Collegiate Institute and then moved to Hammarskjold High School as a teacher and head of history in 1984.
Piovesana was a Sessional Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Lakehad University in 1992 and 1993.
He retired from teaching in June 1998. In 2000, he was appointed archivist/historian for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Thunder Bay by The Most Review
Frederick J. Colli, Bishop of Thunder Bay. He was a president of the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and served as a trustee with the Canadian Museum of Nature from 1996 - 2007.
That same year, he was a finalist for the prize for arts and heritage: Chronicle-Journal City of Thunder Bay.
In addition, Piovesana has become a well-known historian with numerous publications to his cr including R. J. Manion: Member of Parliament for Fort William, 1917-1935 (1990), and Hope and Charity: An Illustrated History of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Thunder Bay (2002). In 2003 he was made an Honorary Life Member of The Thunder Bay Historical Society.
