After moving from Sicily to Turin in the late ‘60s, the artist began to frequent the Arte Povera, which in that moment found its Italian epicenter in the capital of Piedmont. Idiota is a work realized by Salvo before turning to painting in 1973. The work forms part of a series in which a written phrase ("I'm the best", "Salvo is alive", "Father breathes" or indeed "Idiot") is revealed on a tombstone, in marble, a poor material that immediately recalls the monumental style of the cemeteries. Based on mythologization and ironic self-celebration, typical of all works from this period, Salvo builds his own historiography in advance. With a subtle and sarcastic affirmation, he triggers a sharp interpretive process that can be read on different levels.