Giuseppe Piamontini was a close follower, only twelve-years younger, of Giambattista Foggini, founder of the school of Florentine late Baroque sculpture, which flourished under the last members of the dynasty of Medici Grand-Dukes.
He studied in the short-lived, but effective, Medici Academy founded by Cosimo III in Rome between 1681 and 1686. When he returned to Florence, the heir-apparent, Gran Principe Ferdinando (1663-1713), took a special interest in Piamontini, perhaps partly because they were almost the same age, and commissioned from him many sculptures, the first, when the sculptor was only fourteen.
Seeking to further his skills, he moved to Rome in 1681 to study at the Accademia Fiorentina, where he trained under Ercole Ferrata and Ciro Ferri. During this period, he collaborated with fellow students on projects such as the Stations of the Cross in Montelupo
