Gianni Berengo Gardin was born in Santa Margherita Ligure in 1930 and took up photography in 1954.
 
After a long period in Venice, he moved to Milan, where his professional career as a photographer began. He worked with a number of important Italian and foreign magazines such as Mario Pannunzio’s Il Mondo, Epoca and Time. His particular focus on the creation of photographic books is reflected by the publication of over 250 volumes, characterized above all by a keen interest in social investigation. From 1966 to 1983, in collaboration with the Touring Club, he published a series of books on Italy and other European countries. He also worked assiduously with major companies like Olivetti on reportages and monographs. It was in 1979 that he began to work with Renzo Piano and document the phases of his architectural projects.
 
His career has seen over three hundred solo shows inside and outside Italy, including major events in Arles (1987), Milan (1990), Lausanne (1991), Paris (1990), New York (the Leica Gallery, 1999). Some of his latest shows were held at the Städtische Galerie in Iserlohn (2000), Museo Civico in Padua (2001), Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome (2001), Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris (2005), Fondazione Forma per la Fotografia in Milan (2005), Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice (2012) and Palazzo Reale in Milan (2013).
 
Included in the Modern Photography list of the world’s top 32 photographers in 1972, he was also one of the eighty photographers chosen by Cartier-Bresson for the show ‘Les choix d’Henri Cartier-Bresson’ in 2003.
 
In 2013 Leica Wetzlar invited him to take part in ‘Eyes Wide Open! One Hundred Years Of Leica Photography’. His images of big cruise ships in Venice were exhibited in collaboration with the Fondo Ambiente Italiano in Milan (Villa Necchi) and Venice (Olivetti Store) in 2014 and 2015.
 
In addition to numerous prizes, he received the Lucie Award for lifetime achievement in 2008 and an honorary degree in art history and criticism from the University of Milan in 2009.
 
He was awarded the Ambrogino d’Oro by the city of Milan in 2012 and the title of honorary architect by the Consiglio Nazionale degli Architetti, Pianificatori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori in Rome in 2015.