In 1760, after the death of his father, Giuseppe Gazzaniga travelled to Venice to begin formal musical training and became a student of the renowned teacher Nicola Porpora. Porpora accepted him as a pupil and soon moved to Naples, where Gazzaniga followed him.
In Naples, Nicola Porpora secured Gazzaniga a free place at the Conservatorio di Sant'Onofrio a Porta Capuana and continued to teach him counterpoint and composition. This period marked Gazzaniga’s foundational musical education under Porpora’s guidance.
