Arduino was born on 16 October 1714 at [[Caprino Veronese]], a small village in the [[Republic of Venice]], from a poor family of farmers. His brother was the [[botanist]] [[Pietro Arduino]]. He tudiedstudied at Verona but did not take a degree. At eighteen he began an apprenticeship as a technician in the iron mines in [[Klausen, South Tyrol]], and [[Bolzano]], northern Italy. He became quickly knowledgeable about mineralogy and metallurgy and was soon able to establish himself as a mining expert.{{sfn|Rodolico|1970|p=233}} As a result of his practical experience he became recognized as a [[mining]] expert, in which capacity he served several Italian administrations. He finally became professor of [[mineralogy]] at the [[University of Padua]] and a member of the [[Accademia nazionale delle scienze]].
Arduino developed possibly the first classification of geological time, based on study of the geology of northern [[Italy]]. He divided the history of the Earth into three periods: Primitive, Secondary, and [[Tertiary period|Tertiary]].
