He was born in Pisa, eldest son of a family originally from Pescia.[1] After studying Hebrew and graduating in theology at the University of Pisa in 1821, Rosellini studied oriental languages under Giuseppe Mezzofanti at Bologna until 1824, when he became professor of the same subject at the University of Pisa.[3][2] He was the first disciple, a great friend and an associate of Jean-François Champollion. They met in Florence in August 1825, during Champollion's journey to study the important Egyptological collections in Turin, Rome and Florence.[3] In 1827, he went to Paris for a year in order to improve his knowledge of the method of decipherment proposed by Champollion. Here, he met and then married Zenobia, daughter of the Italian composer Luigi Cherubini.