While Neri rarely appeared outside his native Italy and made relatively few recordings, he was nonetheless one of the more important bassi cantanti of his generation; for many (including Tito Gobbi), his Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's Don Carlo defined the role, and his Gounod Mephistopheles was also greatly admired. He studied in Florence, and then at the Rome Conservatory. His operatic debut was at the Teatro delle Quattro Fontane, and he was soon established at the Rome Opera, where he made his debut in 1938. His career, like that of most of his European contemporaries, was interrupted by World War II, but after the war, he was performing lead roles at most of the major Italian opera houses, including La Scala, La Fenice, and Parma, and singing for Italian radio. His career was cut short by his relatively early death.