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Fortunato Depero was born on 30th March 1892 in Fondo. He began to study at the Scuola Reale Elisabettina in Rovereto where his family moved a few years after his birth. This was a school that aimed at the development of technical specialisation and applied arts, like many other Austrian schools of the age (the Autonomous Province of Trento used to belong to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy until 1918) . Depero's first artistic works can be dated 1907, these were paintings, drawings, watercolours and sculptures. The following year he was refused to attend to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Then, in 1910, after a quick stay in Turin, where he worked as an apprentice with a marble worker named Scanagatta, he returned to Rovereto.

In 1911 he exhibited twice in Rovereto, drawings of Realism and Symbolism, at Giovanni Giovannini's bookshop, a local Maecenas, and once again he exhibited there in 1913. Still in 1913 he travelled to Florence, there he found a copy of the paper "Lacerba" and began his approach to Futurism. In June, the same year, he published a small book entitled Spezzature: impressioni - segni - ritmi (Rubbish: impressions - marks - rhythms) , a collection of prose, poetry, grotesque and symbolist drawings. Early in December we could find him in Rome where he visited Boccioni's exhibition at the Galleria Sprovieri, being deeply impressed. In February 1914 he was again in Rome at the same gallery and came into contact with Balla, Cangiullo and Marinetti.

From 13th April until 25th May he took part in the Esposizione Libera Futurista Internazionale at the Galleria Sprovieri. When the World War I broke out he moved to Italy and settled down in Rome. During the winter of 1914-1915 should be mentioned Boccioni's visit to Depero's studio to see his "motion-noisy-plastic-complexes" , and shortly after Depero's official admission to the first circle of Futurist painters and sculptors. Meanwhile, he began to work together with Giacomo Balla and on 11th March 1915 they signed the manifesto Ricostruzione Futurista dell'Universo (Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe). The following May he was enlisted as a voluntary soldier under the Italian Army and went to the front although he was declared unfit for military service.

Later he met Diaghilev, the manager of the Russian Ballets, who visited him in his studio together with Massine and Larionov again in Rome. Diaghilev commissioned him the construction of the stage scenes and to the plastic-mobile costumes for Le Chant du Rossignol by Stravinsky (which never realised) . In the spring of the same year Diaghilev asked him to design also the costumes for Francesco Cangiullo's Giardino Zoologico (Zoological Garden) , a ballet which should have had music written by Ravel (but this project was never accomplished).

Soon after he met Gilbert Clavel, a Swiss poet, who invited him in Capri in order to work together on his book Un istituto per suicidi (Suicides! Institute) , a decadent novel which Depero illustrated with many drawings, then published in Rome. In Capri they had the first idea for the Plastic Theatre as well, a set of choreographies where they planned to use puppets instead of real dancers. Back in Rome then they carried out the idea for the "Plastic Theatre" in the show Balli Plastici (Plastic Ballets) , staged at the Teatro dei Piccoli in Rome on 15th April 1918, its music was written by Casella, Tyrwhitt, Malipiero and Béla Bartók.

In June 1919 he returned to Rovereto in order to work at the realisation of his own Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero (Depero's Futurist House) in which his wife collaborated as supervisor of tapestries-workroom. In September 1921 he began the decoration and furnishing of the Cabaret del Diavolo (Devil's Cabaret) upon Gino Gori the dramatist's request. The Cabaret was a sort of Dantesque bolgia where Futurists, actors, anarchists, metaphysicians and dadaists were frequent visitors. In 1923 he took part in the "International Exhibition of Decorative Art" in Monza (I Mostra Internazionale delle Arti Decorative di Monza) , and from April to October 1925 he also joined with a personal room (together with Balla and Prampolini) in the "International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts" (Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes) held in Paris. Two years later the mythical "Depero Futurista" was published better known as "Libro imbullonato" ("Bolted book") , a real revolution in typography layout and the first sample of Futurist object-book; a masterpiece in the history of printing of this century. During these years he was deeply involved in advertising work, especially for the Campari firm.

In September 1928 he went to New York. Depero was mostly engaged in advertising and stage settings. He designed covers for some New Yorker magazines such as "Vanity Fair" , "Sparks" , "The News Auto Atlas" , and others. Then he designed ballet-costumes for the Roxy Theatre and realised some interior designing as well. He returned to Italy in October of 1930. In 1932-1933 he edited five numbers of the Futurist magazine "Dinamo Futurista" that devoted a special number to Boccioni's life and works.

In 1940 he published his fundamental autobiography with the catalogue of exhibitions which title was F. Depero nelle opere e nella vita [F. Depero in His Life and Works] . In 1947, he decided to give a chance to New York again, but this time he found the city "iced" and hostile. In late October 1949 he returned to Rovereto and between 1953 and 1956 he was engaged in the decorations of the Sala del Consiglio della Provincia Autonoma di Trento (the Council Room) that today is the only complete evidence of all his furniture works. In 1957 the Municipality of Rovereto deliberated the opening of the Galleria Museo Fortunato Depero that was officially opened 11th August 1959. In the same year the seriously ill Depero participated at the exhibition for the 50th anniversary celebration of the first publication of the Futurist Manifesto at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome.

Fortunato Depero died in Rovereto on 28th November 1960.