Count Ernesto Balbo Bertone di Sambuy attended the College Saint Michel in Brussels, Belgium. In 1907 he was named Vice President of the Comitato Generale (General Committee) for the organization of the International Exposition of Turin 1911. His tenure was cut short by his death in 1909. He served as senator for the Italian kingdom and as mayor of Turin (1882-1886). He was President of the Accademia Albertina from 1887 to 1894.

Heir to a large fortune that included extensive rural properties but few liquid assets, Count Ernesto Balbo Bertone di Sambuy coped with the agricultural crisis of the turn of the century by selling off marginal tracts of land and holding firm to his ancestral estates. With the liquid assets thus obtained, he began to buy stocks in railroads, machinery, automotive, and chemical firms.