Since the dawn of times, human beings have always loved embellishing their bodies with attractive decorative marks on their skin, also as a sign of power and social prestige.

The word "tattoo" originates from tahitian word "tatu" or "tatau" which means strike or mark but the origins of the art of decorating the body go far beyond Polynesian cultures. In fact, what is considered the earliest forms of tattoo can be found in the Iceman (found in the mountains between France and Italy), a mummified body from about 3300 BC which surprisingly had 57 marks on his body, apparently for therapeutic reasons.

The art of tattoo is cross-cultural, and almost every culture on earth has practiced in some way or another the art of body decoration: tattoo culture can be found in Egypt, Japan, China, Polynesia, India, Africa, ancient Greece and Rome, the Celts, Latin America, North-America and later Europe, where it has become a fashion trend.