Mario Micossi was born in 1926 in Artegna, in the Province of Undine, located in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the home that was in his family for some 300 years. Micossi first studied art at the Udine Lyceum before completing his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1946. He then began his travels across Italy, Europe, Tibet, Nepal and the United States, most notably to New York, where Micossi had been called to collaborate with the prestigious “The New Yorker” magazine. He then moved to New York City where he worked until 1955.

Upon returning to Italy he again settled in the old family home. The house was also his studio where he worked and every two years Micossi opened it to the public showing the works from his private collection. Situated between via Osoppo and via Micossi the house was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1976 and the artist struggled to prevent its demolition after the quake, as he strove to keep all those typical elements of the old world of Friuli, from the objects in the home to the so-called fogolâr.

Micossi first came to the attention of the art world as an illustrator for such leading periodicals as The New Yorker and Saturday Review. From 1960 on, however, he devoted himself almost exclusively to etching, focusing on open-bite, three dimensional images with added color aquatint and it is in this field of art that his reputation was established.

Micossi died in 2005 in Artegna, Italy.

Ten years after Micossi’s death, the Province of Udine and the  CRUP foundation dedicated an exhibition to the Friulian painter and engraver, held at the Church of San Antonio Abate in Udine.