Silvano Piovanelli was born in Borgo San Lorenzo, in the province of Florence, on 21 February 1924. He studied at the seminary of Florence from 1935 to 1947, and was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa on 13 July 1947. He then served as a curate in the industrial town of Rifredi until October 1948, when he became vice-rector of minor seminary of Florence. He resumed his pastoral ministry in 1961 as a parish priest in Castelfiorentino, and was raised to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness on 26 October 1966. From 1979 to 1982, he was vicar general of the Archdiocese of Florence.