Antonino Fogliani studied composition at the Conservatorio "G. B. Martini" in Bologna with Francesco Carluccio and graduated with honors in orchestral conducting at the Milan Conservatory "Giuseppe Verdi", under Vittorio Parisi. He has a degree in musicology at Bolonia University with Lorenzo Bianconi, Roberto Leydi and Marco Beghelli. He then furthered his musical training at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena where he studied composition with Franco Donatoni and Ennio Morricone and conducting with Gianluigi Gelmetti.
His debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in 2001 with Il viaggio a Reims was the beginning of a remarkable international career. Since then he conducted productions of Donizetti's Ugo conte di Parigi and Maria Stuarda at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Mascagni's Amica and Rossini's Mosè in Egitto at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Lucia di Lammermoor in St. Gallen, Verdi's Oberto conte di San Bonifacio at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, Il barbiere di Siviglia at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, and Bellini's La sonnambula at the Teatro Calderón de Valladolid. He conducted Paisiello's Socrate immaginario at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (2005; new production by Roberto De Simone), as well as the 2007 reprise at Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

He has conducted and recorded several titles of Rossini (Otello, Il signor Bruschino, La scala di seta, L'occasione fa il ladro, Edipo coloneo, Ciro in Babilonia, La Cenerentola, Il turco in Italia, Semiramide, Adina). In 2011 he was appointed Musical Director of Rossini in Wildbad Festival: there he conducted first performances in contemporary times of Mercadante's Don Chisciotte alle nozze di Gamaccio and I briganti, Vaccaj's La sposa di Messina and Giovanni Tadolini’s additions to Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival (for which he reconstructed the orchestral score).
Fogliani made his American debut in 2011 conducting Lucia di Lammermoor at the Houston Grand Opera.

In 2012 he debuted Aida at the Teatro Regio in Parma adding to the Verdi repertoire which he had previously conducted (Rigoletto, Giovanna d'Arco, La battaglia di Legnano, La traviata, I masnadieri, and I Lombardi alla prima crociata).
During the 2012/13 season he conducted successful productions of I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Den Norske Opera in Oslo, L’elisir d’amore at Opéra de Massy, Bellini’s Il pirata (concert version) at Liceu di Barcelona, La Sonnambula at Opéra de Montecarlo, L’elisir d’amore at Finnish National Opera in Helinki and La traviata at New Theater of Antibes. He also made his Bolshoi Theatre debut with Turandot and debuted on the podium of Orchestre Philharmonique de Montecarlo.
Among his future plans are Attila in St. Gallen, La Cenerentola in Bern, Aida at Houston Grand Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia in Enschede and in Palm Beach, and Madama Butterfly at Opéra de Lille.

In the symphonic field he has conducted orchestras such as the Orchestra of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma, the Orchestra of Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Orchestra Sinfonica della Fondazione Toscanini di Parma, the Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, the Orchestra Filarmonica of Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania, the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, the Spanish orchestras of La Coruña, Tenerife and Castilla y Leon, the Orchestra of the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre de Bretagne and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen.

Fogliani has recorded for Arthaus Musik, Bongiovanni, Dynamic and Naxos.
From 2011 he teaches orchestral conducting at the Conservatory G. Tartini in Trieste. He lives in Bologna.