He studied painting, then engraving under Luigi Sacchi. In the studio of Sacchi he completed illustrations for a publication of I Promessi Sposi of Alessandro Manzoni. Later with his colleagues in Milan, he founded a school of engraving attended by Giuseppe Balbiani, G. Gallieni, and Giuseppe Centenari. In 1845, he won a silver medal for work displayed at the Brera Academy. In 1847 he moved to Turin to work under the Pomba publishing house. In 1848, due to political tumult, il Mondo illustrato ceased printing; Ratti moved to Genoa, then Milan, then again to Turin, where il Mondo illustrato, was reissued. Mamiani, minister of public education, named Ratti to the position of directing a newly founded school of xylography (woodcut engraving) at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna.Biographical Profile of Francesco Ratti in Dizionario Enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani dall’XI al XX secolo, v. IX, ad vocem.
