In 2013 the Bolognese photographer Mario Berardi donated a sizable part of his professional archive to the Zeri Photo Archive.
It consists of high quality reproductions of works from the Bolognese, Emilian and Romagna schools.
There are 5,279 photo objects in all, the majority of them diacolors (3.253), b/w negatives (1,604) and silver gelatin positives (297). There are also 88 negatives and 37 colour positives. Along with the photographs, some envelopes contain a cd-rom with digital format photos, to a total of over 1,000 files (jpg and tiff).
The donation complements the Zeri Photo Archive with valuable coverage of the Emilian area: works of painting and sculpture, as well as photo campaigns on palazzi, villas and churches. They are largely reproductions of paintings contained in Bologna and Ferrara churches as well as many lesser churches of the Bologna diocese.
Many artists, such as Giacinto Giglioli, Giacomo Forti, Angelo Crescimbeni, Pietro Fabris and Lucia Casalini Torelli are not represented in the Zeri Photo Archive or only scantily so. The Berardi Archive provides plentiful documentation of some artists like Marco Zoppo, Prospero and Lavinia Fontana, Ludovico Carracci, Guercino and Alessandro Guardassoni.
The collection also contains photos of artworks from other Italian towns (Assisi, Cascia, Spoleto, Todi, Fermo, Mantua, Pesaro).
Mario Berardi started his career in 1964 working for the Bologna photographic studio A. Villani & Sons. From 1971 on he worked for Fotofast and in 1980 was a co-founder of the studio CNB&C at which he worked until 1990. In 1991 he launched out on his own, working for the Superintendencies of Bologna and Modena, as well as for the Archdiocese of Bologna and the C.E.I. (1997-2000). He also liaised with the Civic Museums of Ancient Art, the Bologna Cassa di Risparmio, publishing houses and private collectors.
To explore the Berardi Archive you can use the online catologue tool Explore the collections.