Ciani was born in Fiume (now Rijeka in Croatia) and studied piano with Marta del Vecchio in Genoa. Following studies at the Conservatory in Rome, he attended the advanced courses of Alfred Cortot, who called him "miraculously gifted ... one of the most remarkable examples of the rarest talents one could hope to find". His concert career was launched when he won second prize at the Liszt-Bartók Competition in Budapest in 1961. His repertoire embraced the complete sonatas of Beethoven, and works by Weber, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Debussy. Read more on Last.fm