early life and career sabato rodia, also known as simon rodia, was an italian immigrant who lived in the united states. born in serino, italy in 1879, he spent most of his adult life in los angeles, where he built the watts towers, a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics. the watts towers: a masterpiece of outsider art the watts towers are an example of outsider art (or art brut) and italian-american naïve art. designed and built solely by rodia over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954, the tallest tower…