A painter and illustrator, Arnaldo Ferraguti trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples and later frequented Francesco Paolo Michetti in Francavilla al Mare. Michetti would remain for him, with his repertoire of bucolic and popular themes, a constant point of artistic reference.
In 1891 he married Olga Treves, granddaughter of the famous publisher brothers Emilio and Giuseppe Treves. This allows him to combine his pictorial activity - supported by a demanding exhibition policy - with a career as an illustrator of books and periodicals (Cuore by Edmondo De Amicis, Vita dei campi by Giovanni Verga and hundreds of tables for L'Illustrazione Italiana and other periodicals).
He redefines his social status by building a villa in Pallanza, a place where he teaches painting to Sophie Della Valle di Casanova Browne and where he frequents the cultural salon of Villa Cordelia, where Giuseppe Treves hosts personalities as Gabriele D'Annunzio and Giovanni Verga.
An experimenter in the chemical field, during the twentieth century he dedicated himself to the industrial production of an artificial parchment and leather invented by him.