He was born and died in the village of Tiana, in Nuoro province on the island of Sardinia. This hill country of Nuoro is noted for its remarkable centenarian density. Among the extremely small number of people who reach supercentenarian age worldwide, males are a pronounced minority, but at the end of his life Todde was not even the only male supercentenarian in Nuoro province.
He was wounded in the battle of Monta Grappa in World War I and is the oldest known person ever to have served in a military force.