[13] This minor planet was named after the pseudonym of Auguste Cauvin, also known as "d'Arsac", long-time editor-in-chief of the Belgian newspaper Le Soir (c. 1898–1937).

Piccolo has been characterized as an X-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey,[12] while the LCDB assumes a stony S-type.

[3] In June 1984, a first rotational lightcurve of Piccolo was obtained from photometric observations by American astronomer Richard Binzel.

[10] According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Piccolo measures between 26.92 and 28.02 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.1538 and 0.199.

[8] The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link derives an albedo of 0.1447 and a diameter of 27.50 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 10.52.