Born in Venice, Leone Frollo has always lived in the neighbourhood of the Rialto. He began professionally drawing cartoons in 1948 with a Western. Ten years later, he followed studies in architecture, and began a collaboration with the English agency, Fleetway, illustrating war stories. He went successively into the genre of the fumetto rosa (romantic comics) with a series for men, and, over the years crossed over into other genres such as fantasy and horror.
In later years, he collaborated with many editors, such as the niche publishers Glittering Images and Glamour, to the more popular publishers such as Mondadori and Rizzoli, for which he illustrated two language manuals (English and French). His work was published in various magazines including those for boys, such as Corriere dei Piccoli, Skorpio and Lanciostory.
But it was in erotic illustration that Frollo found his forte. In the 70s he began a long collaboration with editors publishing adult comics with titles such as Lucifera, Biancaneve (Snow White), and Naga. Frollo has always been fascinated by the power of his women, and most of his work features powerful, wily, and extremely seductive heroines. Also he produced Casino, the backdrop of which was a Parisian bordello in 1898, and was on the experience of the girls of Madame Con.
The decor, atmosphere and the costumes of the first decade of the 20th century fascinated the artist and he illustrated the story of the life of Mona Street, concentrating on the erotic adventures of a young American lady, just graduated from college in Boston. After this artistic endeavour, for which he has particular affection, the Maestro of the Rialto abandoned comics to dedicate himself totally to erotic work. His illustrations on paper, with watercolours, pencil and pastels testify to an elegant eroticism, which owes much to the retro atmosphere and to the allusion to the belle époque of refined decadence of a Venice that no longer exists.