Born in Campiglia Marittima near Livorno, he worked in Piombino as a steel bar rougher, a highly specialized role in the rolling process. Due to this experience, he was hired first in Milan and then at Breda in Sesto San Giovanni. A fervent anti-Fascist, he was fired several times between 1926 and 1927 for being a communist, but was immediately rehired each time specifically because of his high-level professional skills. Fired for "propaganda" following the strikes of March 1943, he was sent to San Vittore prison but was then rehired in August.

However, as the political climate worsened, he was considered a dangerous subversive and was arrested for deportation. On July 13, 1944, he was seized by Fascists in civilian clothes at the factory and then taken home, where a violent search took place that destroyed his furniture and belongings. Finally, he was imprisoned at San Vittore; here he was tortured, and his fingernails were torn out. On August 18, he was sent to the Bolzano transit camp managed by the SS, from where he sent a note to his wife: "Lilia, Mario Del Riccio is here too, notify his wife."

On September 5, he departed for Flossenbürg, and on October 10, he was sent to Kottern, a subcamp of Dachau, where he worked in the factory for Messerschmitt production. He managed to survive until liberation and wrote in a note that he was waiting to return home. The family, notified by the Italian Red Cross through the Vatican, learned that he was hospitalized at the Niguarda Hospital. His eleven-year-old son recounts: "He was a skull covered in skin, his legs as thin as those of a 5 or 6-year-old child."

He recognized everyone and said his goodbyes; two days later, he died at the age of 41.