Ferdinando Romano is a double bassist, composer and improviser, born in Benevento in 1983 and raised in Tuscany between Arezzo and Florence, where he lives. He began on classical guitar, moved to electric and then acoustic bass, and studied classical double bass at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, where his diploma included a course in experimental composition. In 2015 he took a master's degree in performance at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, studying with Enrico Fagone. His official biography lists a further roster of classical teachers, among them Klaus Stoll of the Berlin Philharmonic and Hans Roelofsen, and adds jazz study at the Valdarno and Siena Jazz schools, including a scholarship to the Siena Jazz summer seminar, and private lessons with Ares Tavolazzi, Marco Panascia, Joe Martin and Joe Sanders. His Discogs artist profile also names Furio Di Castri among his teachers.

His first recordings were duo albums with the guitarist Marco Poggiolesi. Tandem (Philology, recorded in September 2010) and Tandem. A Ruota Libera (Dodicilune, recorded February 25, 2013 at Appartamento Swing Studio in Florence and released that December) pair original pieces with arrangements of international singer-songwriter songs; on the second, Romano is credited on double bass, electric bass, loops and electronics, and shares the production credit. A track called "Pardon" on the 2012 double live CD of the actress and cabaret performer Maria Cassi carries a composer credit for Romano and Poggiolesi. In 2019 and 2020 he recorded with saxophonist Leonardo Radicchi's Arcadia Trio, on Don't Call It Justice (AlfaProjects, recorded in June 2018) and Songs For People (Alfa Music, 2020), the latter with trombonist Robin Eubanks as guest, and appeared on drummer Francesco Cusa's double album The Uncle (Giano Bifronte) (2020).

His debut as a leader, Totem, was recorded on October 10 and 11, 2019 at Artesuono in Cavalicco, Udine, and released on April 24, 2020 by the Norwegian label Losen Records. It is a septet record with the American trumpeter Ralph Alessi as featured guest, playing on six of the eight tracks, alongside flugelhornist Tommaso Iacoviello, alto and soprano saxophonist Simone Alessandrini, vibraphonist and marimbist Nazareno Caputo, pianist Manuel Magrini and drummer Giovanni Paolo Liguori; all compositions are Romano's, and the titles ("Wolf Totem," "The Gecko," "Sea Crossing") point to nature and myth. That year Musica Jazz's Top Jazz critics' poll named him best new Italian talent, a title shared with clarinetist Federico Calcagno, and Totem placed eighth in its Italian album ranking. In 2021 the group was chosen for the Nuova Generazione Jazz promotion project and he received a SIAE prize; the band's live sets at the Sile Jazz Festival (June 26, 2021) and the Acireale Jazz Festival (July 10, 2021) were later issued on Bandcamp.

Around this period he also worked as a sideman for other young Italian bandleaders: vibraphonist Nazareno Caputo's trio album Phylum (Aut Records, recorded June 12 and 13, 2020), guitarist Simone Basile's Morning raga (Emme Record Label, recorded April 24, 2022) with pianist Enzo Carniel and saxophonist Manuel Caliumi, and drummer Antonio Fusco's trio records Sete (Da Vinci Jazz, 2023) and Debris (Barly Records, recorded in October 2025), both with pianist Manuel Magrini. He is also the double bassist on Dimention(i)s Mat(t)er (Visage Music, 2023) by the collective Inventionis Mater with saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock.

Invisible Painters (Jam/UnJam, 2023) turned toward electronics. Romano plays double bass, synthesizers, samples and modular synthesizers; the quartet is completed by Federico Calcagno on clarinet and bass clarinet, Evita Polidoro on drums and, per the release credits, Elias Stemeseder on piano and synthesizers, with ondes Martenot parts recorded by Christine Ott and Mathieu Gabry. Seven of its eight tracks are Romano compositions; the closing "Where Angels Fear To Tread" is credited to the four members together. It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Stefano Amerio, and his track "Vortex" was selected for the Musica Jazz Top Jazz 2023 compilation CD given away with the magazine's January 2024 issue. His official site lists Top Jazz 2023 placings of second in Italian Musician of the Year, third for Italian Album of the Year and fourth for Italian Band of the Year, and for touring the band has used pianist Valentin Gerhardus, as at Rome's Casa del Jazz on February 1, 2024.

The Legends of Otranto (GleAM Records, April 11, 2025) is a six-movement suite inspired by legends of the Apulian city of Otranto, with titles including "La Torre del Serpe," "Idrusa," "La Cava di Bauxite" and "Re Artù." He recorded it on November 7 and 8, 2024 at Extrabeat Recording Studio in Rome, with Finnish accordionist Veli Kujala, Estonian pianist Kirke Karja and drummer Ermanno Baron; it was mixed and mastered at Jambona Lab in Livorno. Jazz Journal's Michael Tucker reviewed it in July 2025, describing an unusual Italian, Finnish and Estonian quartet and compositions with a painterly quality. On September 25, 2026 he released Flows from Stillness on Bandcamp, a fully improvised duo recorded on March 13, 2023 with pianist Carlo Maria Nartoni, with liner notes by the British pianist Alexander Hawkins.

Alongside performing he is a doctoral researcher in the electronic music department of the Como Conservatory, working with Ircam in Paris on how artificial intelligence can be integrated into improvisation. His solo program for double bass, modular synthesizer and laptop uses a system built in Max/MSP together with Ircam's Somax2 software; he was invited to present it at the International Computer Music Conference in Boston in June 2025 and it was programmed at the Certosa di Firenze, under the title "Algoritmo," on September 22, 2026. His official biography also lists a string quartet, Madrigal LXI, an orchestral piece for Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, I Tetti della città, and theatre and soundtrack work for RAI and Swiss radio and television, and names festival and club dates including the London Jazz Festival, 12 Points, Bergamo Jazz, Novara Jazz, Firenze Jazz Festival, JazzMi, Casa del Jazz, Sunset/Sunside in Paris and Blue Note in Beijing and Shanghai. He also credits collaborations with Robin Eubanks, Benny Golson, Glenn Ferris, Logan Richardson and Enrico Rava, among others, though those are stated in his biography and Discogs profile without a specific release credit.

Romano writes on the avant-garde side of contemporary jazz, with an emphasis on rhythmic layering and on contrasts of texture and color, and blends jazz with contemporary classical music, electronics and improvisation. In a 2024 interview with Citizen Jazz he named Olivier Messiaen's Technique of My Musical Language as a major influence. His sound on the double bass leans on deep tones and rhythmic pulse, and a reviewer of Totem singled out his unaccompanied "Evocation" as a soliloquy.

The three leader albums move in distinct directions: Totem is horn-led post-bop with a mythic, natural imagery; Invisible Painters wraps a jazz quartet in synthesizers, samples and field recordings; and The Legends of Otranto is chamber-like storytelling for accordion, piano, bass and drums. He is also a studied electronic musician, and his AI-assisted solo performances extend that line.