Amedeo Bassi was born in Montespertoli (near Florence) on the 26th of July of 1872¹, studied singing with the Marchese Corrado Pavesi², and made his debut in Castelfiorentino in the opera "Ruy Blas" by Filippo Marchetti (1897). The month of his debut must be either October or early November. In November he sang at the Arena (Florence) in "Rigoletto" and "Lucrezia Borgia".

In 1898 and 1899 he sang mostly in the "provinces," mostly in lyric roles such as Des Grieux in "Manon," "Faust," the Duke in "Rigoletto" and Rodolfo in "La Boheme". He was heard in Ravenna, Firenze, Livorno, Bologna, Pisa and Lecce. Two rather unusual titles were the local première of "Nemea" (by Coop) and "La Resurrezione di Lazaro" (by Lorenzo Perosi), both at the Teatro Pagliano in Firenze.

Conductor/composer Luigi Mancinelli was so pleased with his performances that he chose him for the local première of his opera "Ero e Leandro" at the San Carlo in Naples (1900, March 9). The world première had been in Madrid in 1897). He also appeared in "La Boheme" (4 March) with Lina Cavalieri.

Like Caruso he was one of the first performers of the rol of Cavaradossi in "Tosca". In Genoa (Politeama, October 1900) he had to sing five times the third act aria (E lucevan le stelle). He also sang in "La Boheme" and in the world première of "Medio Evo Latino" (November 17) an opera by the Argentinian composer/conductor Ettore Panizza.

In 1901 Pietro Mascagni chose him for the role of Florindo in the première of "Le Maschere" at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, with Boninsegna, Adami and Corradetti, conducting the same composer. The opera was first performed simultaneously in seven Italian theaters on January 17th. It is said that Bassi’s performance was the best and contributed to the 22 performances that the opera had in Rome.(The opera was a total failure in all the other theaters, eventhough Enrico Caruso sang it in Milan). At the Costanzi he sang also in "Mignon" (February 22) and for the first time the role of Loris in "Fedora" (29 March) with Gemma Bellincioni and Ferruccio Corradetti. Loris would be one of his favourite roles in his career. On April 13 he was Carmine in the world première of "Lorenza" a new opera by Edoardo Mascheroni, with soprano Gemma Bellincioni.

In 1901 he also appeared in Pisa and Firenze.

In the Autumn of 1901 he sang at the Teatro Ristori in Verona, in "Fedora" with Emma Carelli. He was the revelation of the season: "un nuovo tenore della voce meravigliosa e gagliarda, dalle inflessione elettrizzanti e che al canto superbo univa già, un’interpretazione sincera e nuova"

In December he was singing at the Carlo Felice in Genoa, in "La Regina di Saba" (Goldmark) with Maria Farnetti and Carmen Bau Bonaplata and in January 1902 "Lorenza" again with Bellincioni.

In 1902 Amedeo Bassi visited South America for the first time. He sang at the Teatro Politeama in Buenos Aires, from May 13 to August 7, in "Fedora", "La Boheme", "Rigoletto", "Cavalleria Rusticana", "La Gioconda", "Khrysé" (first performance of this opera by the Argentinian composer Arturo Berutti), "Tosca", "Mefistofele", "Linda di Lamounix" and "Germania". His soprano in most of these operas was Emma Carelli. Bassi traveled then to Uruguay for a short season at the Teatro Politeama, in Montevideo, from September 2 to September 18, singing "Fedora", "Tosca", "La Boheme" and "Cavalleria Rusticana". It can really be said that in Argentina Bassi started his successful international career.

Back in Italy, in November he sang at the Comunale in Bologna "Germania" and at La Fenice in Venezia ,"Chopin" (by Giacomo Orefice, 26 December, 10 performances.This was also a local première. The world première had taken place the year before, 25 november 1901 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan with tenor Giuseppe Borgati.

In 1903 Bassi went to Russia, singing in St. Petersburg during January and February (Boheme, Faust, Ernani, Traviata and Un Ballo in Maschera). His ladies were Sigrid Arnoldson, Luisa Tetrazzini and Elena Bianchini Cappelli and the baritones Giuseppe Kaschmann and Eugenio Giraldoni. In March and April he sang in Odessa (Rigoletto, Linda di Chamounix, La Gioconda, La Traviata and Eugene Onegin). His main soprano was Maria Galvany and Mattia Battistini was the baritone.

In 1903 also Bassi came for the first time to the Teatro Municipal in Santiago (Chile) singing from June 17 to October 20, in "Tosca", "Fedora", "Adriana Lecouvreur" (first time in Chile), "La Boheme", "Manon Lescaut", "Mefistofele", "Faust", "Rigoletto", "Chopin" (by Orefice, first time in Chile), "Lorenza" (by Mascheroni, first time in Chile) and "Cavalleria Rusticana". The cast included sopranos Amedea Santarelli and Giuseppina Finzi-Magrini, the baritone Enrico Nani and bass Luigi Nicoletti-Kormann. He sang several of these operas also at the Teatro de la Victoria, in Valparaíso.

After his successful season in Chile, Bassi made his debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid on December 9th, 1903 as Rodolfo in "La Boheme" with Emma Carelli During this season 1903/1904 he sang also in "Mefistofele" (December 17, with Carelli and Andrés Perelló de Segurola), "Tosca" with Matilde De Lerma and Vincenzo Ardito (January 2nd), "Rigoletto" (January 5th,with María Barrientos), "Ernani" (January 10, with De Lerma and Ancona) and "Lucia" (January 19, with Barrientos).

In February 1904 the tenor sang "Fedora" and "Siberia" at the Politeama in Genoa. This last opera was one of his favourites and he sang it in the local première at the San Carlo in Naples (1904), in Santiago de Chile (1904), at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris (1905), and at the Regio in Turin(1906) .

In February/March 1904 he sang also at the San Carlo in Naples, in "Tosca", "Fedora" and the "firsts" of "Adriana Lecouvreur" and "Siberia" (March 9, with Rina Giachetti, Francesco Maria Bonini and Oreste Luppi)