Sergio Terzi, known as Nerone, was born in 1939 in Villarotta di Luzzara (Re). He was a painter, sculptor, writer, and poet, raised in a poor family of seven siblings with an alcoholic and violent father. He had a difficult life due to alcoholism and the long illness of his wife who died from Alzheimer’s after 14 years. Self-taught, he began painting in 1969 at the age of thirty, immediately showing in his works an explosive personality and undeniable expressive potential. His reference master was Antonio Ligabue, whom he worked for as a driver for several years. Over time, his painting underwent an evolution. Initially figurative and expressionist, starting from the late 1990s, he turned to abstract and informal painting. He died in Gualtieri in 2021. His works are found in important museum collections in Italy and abroad (Vatican Museums, Children’s Museum in Washington, Cà La Ghironda Museum in Zola Predosa, Bologna, etc.) and in institutional locations (Quirinal Palace in Rome).