Silvana De Stefano was born in 1954 in Naples. In 1969 she moved to Rome and was awarded a diploma at the Artistic High-School in Rome. Afterwards she attended the Academy of Fine Arts, following courses in sculpture under Fazzini and Greco and Scialoja’s painting courses. She then obtained her degree in architecture,her a study grant from the National Research Council for the University of Berkeley and in 1989 she set up residence in California, still frequently going back and forth to Rome, where she initiated her actual professional activities.
At the Institute for Architectonic Research at the University of Berkeley, she followed studies in design for two years to the full satisfaction of her teachers and at the same time she dedicated herself to sculpture and painting. In 1991 she moved to New York, where she opened a studio and met of Leo Castelli.