Elia was born in Adria (RO) on August 26, 1968. He attended the Liceo Scientifico in Adria and then enrolled in Giovanni D’Agostino’s School of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. From the very beginning, his impetuous and innovative painting style attracted the approval and interest of many professors. He won numerous awards and in 1992, thanks to the Erasmus program, he spent a term in Berlin. His pictorial research, strongly influenced by Man Ray and Robert Rauschenberg, while occasionally branching out into sculpture, remained firmly rooted in painting, as his later canvases demonstrate. After 1992, Elia briefly returned to Adria and then moved permanently to Bologna until 2005, the year of his death. In Bologna, Elia painted incessantly and earned his living as a decorator, designer, and furniture restorer. Since 2001, he has worked alongside Stefano W. Pasquini, then Stefano Questioli, in organizing exhibitions at the Sesto Senso gallery, which hosted a solo show of his in 2001. Previous solo exhibitions included "Gift for an Enemy" at Tacheles in Berlin and "Le Stanze" in Bologna. In 2002, Marco Mango inaugurated a solo exhibition of Elia's work at Galleria 42 Contemporaneo in Modena, which led to exhibitions in Mantua and Reggio Emilia. His group exhibitions include the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice, the Accademia dei Concordi in Rovigo, Oxfam in London, the Palazzo Comunale in Ortisei, and Sesto Senso in Bologna.
In December 2010, REM magazine organized a retrospective exhibition at the Septem Mària Museum in Adria. In 2016, thanks to online crowdfunding and subscriptions at various venues in Adria, the 20 x 100 x Elia Committee raised the funds to print the volume "Elia, artista," which collects a large portion of Elia's paintings.

The exhibition will remain open until October 11, 2025, with a closing at 6:00 PM on that date.