Pericle Fazzini was born in Grottammare (AP) in 1913.

At a very young age, he began working in the family carpentry shop, where he learned to carve wood. 

His interests turned to sculpture as well, from Baroque to modernity, with a special admiration for Bourdelle, Maillol and Rodin.

In the late 1920s, he moved to Rome where he studied at the Scuola Libera del Nudo.

Many of his sculptures from the 1930s are wood. These include masterpieces like Portrait of Ungaretti. After having exhibited in many national and international exhibitions, he opened a studio in Via Margutta in 1938. Starting in 1940, he was in charge of illustrations for the magazines “Primato,” “Documento,” and “Domus.”

He was part of the neocubist movement that spread through Italy in the immediate post-war period. In 1947, he exhibited at the first New Front of the Arts exhibition at the Galleria della Spiga in Milan with the artists Emilio Vedova, Renato Guttuso, Pizzinato, Nino Franchina and GiulioTurcato.

He won the first prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1954.