At the age of 25 he graduated in Medicine at the Modena’s Atheneum. He then followed post-graduate training under Professor Augusto Tamburini in the mental hospital of San Lazzaro in Reggio-Emilia, where Donaggio had the opportunity to attend Giulio Vasale’s laboratories, wherein anatomical researches took place. Shortly after obtaining a teaching position in neuropsychiatry in 1901, he replaced Augusto Tamburini as chairman professor at the University of Modena
