Born in La Spezia, Picasso studied at the Istituto Tecnico in Genoa, and made his acting debut on stage alongside Ermete Novelli.

[2] After working among others with the companies led by Teresa Franchini, Irma Gramatica and Antonio Gandusio, he served in the World War I as a lieutenant.

[2] After the war, he started also working as a stage director, getting a personal success in 1930 with his rendition of R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End.

[2] In 1933, after working with Tatyana Pavlova he stepped away from the theater, resuming an intense stage activity in 1939 before his final retirement from acting in 1957; his last work was a successful rendition of Sophocles’Oedipus Rex directed by Vittorio Gassman.

[2] He was also active in films, being mainly cast in supporting roles, with a career which spanned from silent cinema until early 1950s.