An astrophysicist by training, Niccolo graduated from the University of Florence, his native city and came to the UK as a European Space Agency Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has held a number of research and academic positions before a change of career in the mid 1980’s to the world of finance, technological innovation and fine art.

Niccolo has been a Vice- President, Mergers and Acquisitions at Bankers Trust International, Managing Director at Phillips, the third largest auction house in the world, and the Chairman of Webiz, the private Equity fund of the Italian utility giant, ENEL. He has served on the Board of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, and he is currently Chairman of ETT, a company that creates multi-media interpretations for Museums.