Amleto Cicognani was born in Brisighella, near Faenza, as the younger of the two children of Guglielmo and Anna (née Ceroni) Cicognani. His widowed mother ran a general store to support him and his brother, Gaetano. After studying at the seminary in Faenza, he was ordained a priest on 23 September 1905 by Bishop Gioacchino Cantagalli. Cicognani continued his studies at the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum "S. Apollinare", and in 1910 he was appointed an official of the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments. First raised to the rank of Monsignor in 1917, he taught at his alma mater of the Athenaeum "S. Apollinare" from 1921 to 1932, and then entered the Roman Curia, as substitute adjunct of the Consistorial, on 16 December 1922.