Lorenzo Capellini was born in Genova, Italy. He lived in London from 1958 to 1964 where he began to work as a photographer. He worked for various italian newspapers, reviews and magazines such as "Il Mondo". During the years that he spent in London, he also produced documentary films for Italian Television in addition to photography. In 1964 he moved to Africa (Kenya and other countries) where he produced many films and reports on the life and habits of wild animals. At the end of 1968 he returned to Milan, Italy, where he concentrated mostly on sculptors such as Cascella, Cavaliere, Marini, Moore, Pomodoro, Spagnulo, King, Consagra, Ceroli, Mo, Lipchitz. He also produced industrial photographs for PIRELLI, ENI, MAS and others; fashion photographs for Vogue, Amica, end Gioia; and architecture, interior design and arts magazines. Between 1969 and 1972 produced photographic reports in Cuba, Brasil and Mexico. In 1974 an exhibition was held and a book published on the life of Francesco Petrarca: this was the first biography of a part of the Italian literature to have ever been done through photographs. The exibition entitled Itinerari con Francesco Petrarca is still part of the permanent collection in the Poet's home at Arquà Petrarca (Padua). After the vernissage in Rome at the National Library and in Milan at the Sforzesco Castle, the exhibition toured many european cities, the United States and Japan. From 1974 to 1986 Lorenzo Capellini lived in Venice where he was the official photographer for the Biennale di Venezia. During this period the following photographic books were published: Il segno teatrale, 1974-1978 Cronache di un quadriennio, Carnevale del Teatro and all the books-of-the-year of each Biennale. In 1978 Lorenzo Capellini held a personal exhibition in Venice at San Giovanni Evangelista, and in Milan at La Rotonda della Besana. He later made a documentary on this exibition entitled Immagini della Biennale di Venezia for RAI Italian Television which was commented by the author Alberto Moravia. In 1979 and in the following years he returned to Africa with Alberto Moravia, and published the photographs of this journeys in Corriere della Sera. Between 1981 and 1984 he produced the photographs for the covers of librettos of Fonit-Cetra Records.
In 1982 he published the book L'Italia per Garibaldi and made the documentary for RAI Il segno di Garibaldi, as well as the documentaries on ten years of activity of the Biennale di Venezia, Il Volo del Leone. In 1984 the book Le Città del Silenzio is published with the texts of Alberto Moravia and Paolo Portoghesi. The book talks about the architecture of the new founded cities south of Rome built during the fascist period. From 1984 to 1990 Lorenzo Capellini was the official photographer for the Opera Theatre in Bologna. In 1987 he published the bookVeneto Barbaro di Muschi e Nebbie based on the texts of Goffredo Parise. The book Un'idea dell'Opera, followed in 1989, which tells about five years of operas at the Bologna Opera Theatre. He also held a personal exhibition in Paris in 1989 at the Centre Georges Pompidou (Beaubourg) where he showed over two-hundred photographs. In 1989 he published the following books: L'Autunno di Berlino on the fall of the Berlin Wall and Guida di Architettura di Milano, a chronological architectural guide of the city. These were followed by three books published in the years 1990-1992 respectively: Guida di Architettura di Firenze, Guida di Architettura di Genova, and Architetture Terapeutiche, a book about drug relief comunities.
He spent the month of March in the years 1992-1998 guest of the International Fund for Animal Welfare on the ice in the north of Canada taking photographs of the birth of the seals for italian and foreing magazines. In October 1995 in Todi (Umbria) a retrospective exhibit of over 300 photographs of his work took place. During 1995 his exibition There where the seals are born took place in Rome, Neaples,Padua, Florence,Bologna and Milan; the photographs where teken in the north of Canada on the ice of North Atlantic. From December 1995 to March 1996 his exhibition Luoghi e Persone dell'Arte was housed in the Museum of Milan; in the same year the exihbition was also displayed in Bologna at the Museum of Archiginnasio and at the Civic Gallery in Padua. Lorenzo Capellini works for the Teatro alla Scala of Milan where he takes photographs of Ballet and Opera. In 1997 he published the book La Biennale di Venezia, a report on the Venitian arts exhibitions and also spent a long period of time in South Africa working on a survey on endangered species of wild animals with the International Fund for Animal Welfare. In November of the same year he published a book about the South African textile industry Wooltextile. In february of the following year, the book by Allemandi: Giò Pomodoro/Lorenzo Capellini - Scultura/fotografia, was published and an accompanying exhibition was held in Padua.
In January 1999 a retrospective of his work was displayed in the Sala d'Arme of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. In July 1999 the book La Biennale di Venezia,a report on the Venetian arts exhibitions was published. In the same year in Milan, during the fashion week, the exibition Endless Beauty took place. His exhibition Portraits and Landscape of Arts was held in New York City, October/November 1999, at New York University. In November of the same year the book Guida di Architettura di Torino by Allemandi, was published.
In December 2000 was published the book Guida di Architettura di Padova and from December 2000 till March 2001 took place in Padova-Museo del Santo his exhibition about human backs and the book “Backs” published by Umberto Allemandi & C. In July 2001 with Art Newspaper the book on the art exhibition of the Venice Biennale. In March 2002 his book, with text by Vittorio Sgarbi, Il Prato della Valle: the beautiful 18th century second largest square in Europe. In september 2002 is published by Allemandi & Co. the book "Giotto vis à vis". The Giotto’s frescos inside the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua were photographed during and after the restore. The text is by Ronald Recht.
In 2004 the Gallery of Modern Art of Bologna invites him, within the large exhibition "Il Nudo fra ideale e realtà", with a personal exhib of 100 photographs of feminine nudes. In may and june his photographic biogrphy of the poet Francesco Petrarca, on the occasion of the 700° anniversary of his birth, are shown in Bologna and Arquà Petrarca where it will stay permanently.
In 2006 he completed the book on the island of Pantelleria, with text by Giorgio Armani, and he worked on a book and exhibition about a well famous italian writer Goffredo Parise.
