Melotti's first studies were as an engineer and he qualified in 1924. In 1928 he went to Rome to become a painter but in the early 1930s he changed course and started a long career as a sculptor. Melotti created forms in plaster that are nearly two-dimensional harmonic bas-reliefs in terra cotta and ceramics. His print oeuvre was very small and is extremely scarce. His work was of major importance and is exhibited in public collections world-wide.