He was a pupil of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa where he graduated in 1869. Arzelà came from a poor household; therefore he could not start his study until 1871, when he studied in Pisa under Enrico Betti and Ulisse Dini.
Tricomi, G. F. (1962). "Cesare Arzelà". Matematici italiani del primo secolo dello stato unitario (Italian mathematicians of the first century of the unitary state). series IV (in Italian). Vol. I. p. 120. Zbl0132.24405. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2010-07-31. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Available from the website of the