He was born in
Venice, the son of an official of the Austrian government. Ciardi enrolled in 1861 at the
Venice Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied perspective with
Federico Moja and landscape and seascape with
Domenico Bresolin, taking over the latter’s teaching post in 1894. He went to
Florence in 1868 and formed friendships with
Giovanni Costa and the
Macchiaioli painters. After spending some time in the countryside around
Rome, he then arrived in
Naples and came into contact with
Filippo Palizzi and the artists of the
Resina School. On his return to
Venice the following year, he resumed his regular participation in the exhibitions of the
Academy and the Società Promotrice di Belle Arti. Works were also sent to exhibitions in
Milan,
Turin,
Genoa, Florence and Naples in the 1870s and 1880s. He participated in the Milan Triennale during the 1890s, and in the Turin Exhibition of 1898 and the Venice Biennale from 1895 to 1914, with a solo show in 1909. Views of the Venetian lagoon and the countryside around Treviso were accompanied by mountain landscapes painted during his numerous stays in towns in Veneto, Trentino and Lombardy. Awarded a gold medal in 1915 at the
San Francisco Exhibition, where the participants included his children
Beppe and
Emma, he was struck down by paralysis and died two years later. ==References==