 Ionescu was educated in Iaşi, at the Trei Ierarhi school, and then at the Academia Mihăileană, where he studied with Eftimie Murgu.He pursued his studies at the University of Paris, where he specialized in agrarian economics.In 1842, he became a professor of agronomy at the Academia Mihăileană in Iaşi, collaborated with the nationalists associated with the journal "Propăşirea" (1844), and, with Nicolae Bălcescu, became a principal advocate of land reform in the Danubian Principalities.