Roberto Ferruzzi was born in Sebenico in Dalmatia (now Šibenik, Croatia) in 1853 to Italian parents.

[4] Ferruzzi exhibited his work for the first time in 1883 in Turin, consisting mostly of figure paintings.

In 1887, he exhibited a canvas in Venice titled La prima penitenza, a genre painting of a boy praying a rosary in penance for bad behavior whilst his grandmother looks on amused.

[5] Ferruzzi died on 16 February 1934 in Venice and was buried in the small cemetery of Luvigliano in his family's plot, near his wife Ester Sorgato and his daughter Mariska.

[citation needed] He bore two descendants of the same name: his son Roberto (nicknamed Bobo), a painter of lagoons; and his grandson Roberto (nicknamed Robi), an art appraiser and antiquarian.