Piero Aversa was born in Asmara, Erithea, East Africa, educated at the Belle Arte in Rome, and lived and exhibited worldwide. He moved to the US in 1953.

His talents span the design in fabrics, wall covering, jewelry and films as well as the fine arts. The exhibition in Rome in 1959, of “The Most Beautiful Women of Rome”, catapulted him to international recognition. In New York, he designed celebrity mannequins for the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue. The depicted “New York's high-born, wealthy jet-setters” included Louise Savitt, Baby Jane Holzer and Wendy Vanderbilt.

He is acknowledged for his sensitivity to the different lands he had been inspired by, from the primitive backdrops of Greek Mythology to the botanical lushness of Mexico, Italy, Greece and the Southern United States. He established his own line of wallpapers and fabrics, receiving praise for his interior design of suites at the historic Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.

His first show in Key West was at Martello Museum in 1985.

Aversa was collected by actresses Katherine Hepburn and Agnes Moorehead; diplomat and prominent New York socialite, Francis Kellogg; gallery owner, Julius Fleischmann; society songstress and millionaire industrialist, Mr. & Mrs. David Muss; and American songwriter, Jule Styne. He was also collected by various Italian nobility, Count and Countess Scribani Rossi from Rome, Principessa Niky Boncompagni, and Countess Alicia Paolozzi from Rome.

The arrival of Piero in Mykonos, Greece and opening of his bar in the early 70's began a somewhat historical era for the gay community of the time. Increased acceptance allowed the opportunity for an open celebration of the gay life style and an unprecedented sense of freedom rarely found anywhere else in the world.