Marco Di Francesco was born in Isola del Gran Sasso (Teramo) in 1950. Until the age of sixteen, he lived in the woods and valleys on the slopes of the Gran Sasso; and it was here, in this enchanted and silent place that he absorbed a sense of the wonder of nature, spontaneously beginning first to draw, then to paint, thus giving rise to a metamorphosis of artistic vocation that led him to settle in Rome in 1968. In the capital, he continued to study and exhibit his first works in collective exhibitions; the first exhibition was in Piazza Navona where Di Francesco he breathes and revels in that artistic breath that is already innate to him. The moment is particular, given the period of upheaval in both social and cultural ideas. Thus, his first works contemplate the themes of Rome's suburbs and pollution, not forgetting the disorder with which the city's residential areas are expanding. To this period belongs the theme of loneliness and alienation, usually marked in his works by blue colouring. It was during these years that he deepened his research, coming to conceive art as a manifestation of a privileged relationship between man and God. A little later (in 1982), he began experimenting on wood or canvas with sunlight. his artistic ingenuity created his first wood sculptures in this period.

He continued to attend the St. Jacob's School of Art in Rome and his activity reached the conception of new artistic forms. He frequently took part in specialised exhibitions abroad: in Belgium, Holland and Switzerland, his works inspired by the mythical places of Magna Graecia in Calabria and Sicily were received with particular interest. Contact with a millenary culture, combined with the sunny beauty of places, led him to execute a cycle of works from life portraying the daily life of the people of the South. In the mid-1980s, he opened two studios in Cefalù and Camigliatello Silano: for about fifteen years, they were a point of reference and cultural movement also for art critics. He currently teaches painting for the Consortium of Porto Rotondo (Sardinia) in the summer, while from autumn to spring he holds painting courses at his art studio in Rome.