Actor from Sicily discovered by director Pier Paolo Pasolini. Merli starred in Pasolini's film "Erotic Tales from 1001 Nights" (1974). In 1975, Merli played the role of one of the torture victims in Pasolini's controversial work "The 120 Days of Sodom". Due to the drastic torture scenes with Merli, he became probably the most famous face of the controversial film.