Roberto Pietro Gioacchino Vioni was born in Rome, Italy on 20 August 1886. He was the son of Fiorenzo Vioni and the former Thérèse Michelline Buttenelli. Little else is known about his early life.

He was married in Paris on 11 January 1910 to Englishwoman Muriel Thorn Woodyard (b. 8 February 1882). Miss Woodyard had been born in Ipswich, Suffolk and was the daughter of carpenter Jonas Woodyard and the former Jane McLachlan.

The childless couple appeared on the 1911 census living at 8 Lynton Mansions, Kenington Road, Lambeth, London and Vioni was described as a restaurant waiter, possibly for Luigi Gatti. Also present at this address as a lodger was future à la carte restaurant waiter Maurice Debreucq.

When he signed on for the maiden voyage of the Titanic on 6 April 1912, his first working sea voyage, Vioni’s address was given as 32 Jessie Terrace, London, a collective address for the Gatti employees. He came aboard on 10 April.

Roberto Vioni died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. 

In February 1914 his widow Muriel crossed the Atlantic aboard Oceanic; she was remarried on 23 March 1914 to French chauffeur Charles James (b. 23 February 1886) of New York City. She apparently remained in New York but her eventual whereabouts remain unclear. 

To mark the centenary of the disaster a plaque commemorating Roberto Vioni and his colleague Roberto Urbini was unveiled at the Casa del Cinema in Villa Borghese. It reads:

IN OCCASIONE DEL CENTENARIO
ROMA CAPITALE
RICORDA
I GIOVANI LAVORATORI ROMANI
ROBERTO URBINI
E
ROBERTO VIONI
SCOMPARSI NEL DISASTRO DEL
TITANIC

Nella solitudine del mare
a un abisso dalta vanita umana
e dall' Orgoglio dela Vita che la progetto
ess in silenzio giace
(Thomas Hardy)

15 APRILE 1912 15 APRILE 2012