A pupil of Mentessi and Tallone at the Brera Academy, Alberto Salietti fought in the First World War. After the War he worked as an illustrator. From 1920 until 1952 he participated in the Venice Biennale. Salietti joined the group Novecento Italiano, founded in 1922, and, from 1925 to 1930, he was the secretary of the group, handling national and international relationship and taking care of the archives. Since 1917 Salietti visited for long periods in summer, the town of Chiavari, in the East coast of Liguria and in 1941 he decided to settle there. See Guido Giubbini and Franco Ragazzi, Alberto Salietti, Un artista di Novecento, exhibition catalogue, Villa Croce, Genoa, 1997.