His pen name, literally meaning "zero limescale", was inspired by an Italian TV commercial jingle for a descaler product, and was chosen when he needed a nickname to quickly join a discussion on the Internet.

[12] On 14 January 2018 L'Espresso published a short comic by Zerocalcare titled 'Questa non è una partita a bocce,' focusing on the rise of Neo-fascist movements in Italy.

[13] The same year, Zerocalcare was invited to attend San Diego Comic-Con following the English release of Kobane Calling, but only obtained his US Visa last minute, due to his travels which inspired the book.

[19] In 2020, Zerocalcare got high visibility, particularly thanks to the animated shorts Rebibbia Quarantine broadcast on LA7 on the Propaganda Live program during lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

[20] He wrote an introduction for the Italian edition of TRANSito, a transgender-themed comic by Ian Bermúdez drawn by David Cantero, released in Italy in March 2020.

[25] On 16 November Ablaze Publishing announced that they would be releasing English translations of Zerocalcare's first three graphic novels, The Armadillo Prophecy (2011), Tentacles At My Throat (2012) and Forget My Name (2014).

[27] An animated series featuring the same team of creators, titled This World Can't Tear Me Down (Italian: Questo mondo non mi renderà cattivo), was released on Netflix on 9 June 2023.