Gentilini was a bookprinter first, and sang in the choir of the Pisa Cathedral, with whose choirmaster Amatucci
(and a second teacher in Pisa) he took voice lessons.
Pisa was also where he made his debut in 1939 as Pinkerton. His breakthrough
came in 1940 at the Rome opera theater, as the Fisherman in Guillaume Tell and as the Astrologer in Zolotoj
petushok (The golden cockerel). In 1941, he was for Bellini's 100th birthday at the Teatro Bellini in Catania as Elvino,
and at La Fenice in Venice as Filippo Mala in Madonna Imperia by Franco Alfano, as as Duca, which latter role he also
sang in Modena, Siena, Prato and Castelfiorentino the same year.
In 1942, he made his Scala debut as Arturo in I puritani (with Gino Bechi and Tancredi Pasero); he returned to La
Scala once, in 1947 as Italienischer Sänger. The years in between, he sang in Florence, Pisa, Piacenza or Palermo (Teatro
Massimo).
In 1947, he sang abroad for the first time: Fernand at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Duca and
Almaviva in Zürich. In 1948, he was at the Arena di Verona, and at the Liceu in Barcelona (as Almaviva). He sang in
Bologna, Bari, Lucca, Trento, Sanremo, Torino (Teatro Nuovo), Parma (Teatro Regio), and toured
Sicily twice. Internationally, he appeared in Marseille (1952), Freiburg, Lugano and Malta, and with touring troupes in
Germany and the Netherlands. He also sang frequently on the Italian radio RAI.
His most famous role was Arturo; he sang the dreaded high F in "Credeasi, misera".
After the untimely death of his wife, he gave up his solo career in 1957, worked as a bookprinter again, and re-joined the
choir of the Pisa Cathedral.
Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 2, reference 3: Roberto Marcocci's fantastic website