Gianni Testa was born in Rome on 23rd October 1936, he met and frequented artists such as Quaglia, Mazzacurati, Levi, Guttuso with whom he made friends. It was Levi himself who, seeing in his first works that authentic talent, for which he distinguished himself in 1962, encouraged him to take part in a group exhibition with Quaglia, Guttuso, Mazzacurati and Domenico Purificato. A list of his group exhibitions: Roman Biennial in 68 the Milan Triennial and the Rome Quadrennial just to name a few, and as many national competitions won, starting from 1st place at ‘Brandy Italiano’ contest back in 1970, until the recent Lifetime Achievement Award given by art critic Prof. Vittorio Sgarbi.