Born in
Tosi (Florence) on the 6th of February 1910, completed his early
studies at Magnolfi College of Prato. There, under the guidance of Efrem
Ciucci, carving master, he learned the first rudiments of the craft of wood
carving. After leaving the College in 1925, he continued that craft in the best
artisan schools of that era, under the guidance of such distinguished masters
as Renzo Cinatti, Guido Giorgi, Aristide Aloisi, and Umberto Bartoli. In 1929
he participated in a competition for young apprentices, winning the title of
Champion Carver. His long apprenticeship as a carver, which ran from 1927 to
1935, led him to devote himself to wood sculpture, first as an animalist and
then, as the years passed, to bas-relief, high-relief and tuttotondo. During
the period, his fraternal friendship with Pietro Annigoni, who introduced him
into the circle of Florentine artists as well as his patrons, was particularly
useful. His works from this period spanning 1935 to 1940 are in the
collections: counts Martini-Bernardi, marquis Antinori, avv. Carrozza. While
attending the nude school at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, he met
Giuseppe Graziosi, whose friend and favourite pupil he became. In 1938 the prof
Graziosi urged him to attend the aforementioned Academy, in which Boninsegni
became an assistant from 1950 to 1976. Subsequently a member of the Accademia
delle Arti del Disegno in Florence.