Menotti was born in Migliarina, near Carpi, then part of the Duchy of Modena and Reggio.

A member of the Carboneria since 1817, he was a fervent democratic and patriot. From 1820 he held contacts with French intellectuals, with the goal to free Modena from the Austrian hegemony.

Initially, duke Francis IV declared favorably for Menotti's claim, probably encouraged at the possibility of becoming its king in a future unified Northern Italy. Menotti organized a revolt in Modena for February 3, 1831 but, in a brusque volte - face, Francis denied him his support, and even, from his voluntary exile in Mantua, called the help of Austria and its allies.

Menotti was arrested and, after a summary process, condemned to death by hanging. The sentence was executed in the Citadel of Modena.

Afterwards Menotti become the idealized figure of patriotic martyr of the Italian Risorgimento. In 1880 the former Garibaldine officer Taddeo Grandi wrote a biography of him. A monument in Modena was built to Menotti in 1879, facing the former Grand Dukes palace.

Giuseppe Garibaldi named one of his children Menotti after him.