Born in Tricarico, in the Province of Matera, the son of a shoemaker and a homemade seamstress, Scotellaro studied law at the Universities of Rome, Naples and Bari without graduating, as the early death of his father forced him to return to his hometown.

[1] In December 1943 he joined the Italian Socialist Party, and after having been part of the local department of National Liberation Committee in 1946 he became mayor of Tricarico.

[1][2] His tenure as mayor was inspired by the theories of vita activa by Hannah Arendt, and spent a great deal of effort in improving the living conditions of his fellow citizens.

[1][2] He then collaborated with the Agrarian Economics Observatory and with the Association for the Industrial Development of Southern Italy (SVIMEZ), studying various projects and reforms.

[1] His style belongs to New Realism,[1][3] and Eugenio Montale described him as a "poeta contadino" ("peasant poet") and paired him to Sergei Yesenin and Attila József.