Calzolari spent most of his childhood in
Venice, Italy, where the cultural Byzantine heritage and the singular light of the city over the water profoundly influenced his work. In 1965 he moved to Bologna where he set up his studio at Palazzo Bentivoglio. His first seminal pieces grew from his stay in the building where a lot of international artists were also invited to show their work, including the first film screenings on Italian soil of artists such as
Ari Marcopoulos,
Jonas Mekas and
Andy Warhol. Between 1966 and 1967 Calzolari worked on his first performance piece entitled
Il filtro e benvenuto all’angelo. (The filter and welcome to the angel) Between 1968 and 1969, at the age 25, Calzolari worked in
Urbino as an assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was later promoted to professor in 2002–2003. In 1969, Calzolari also participated in the historical show "
Live In Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form" curated by
Harald Szeemann at the
Kunsthalle Bern. The show marked the beginning of an international career. Szeemann would later invite him to exhibit at
Documenta 5 in 1972. ==1980s and 1990s==