Formed in Bologna where he held his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the study room Bentivoglio.
From the next year he abandons traditional painting techniques; in 1967 always at the Bentivoglio presents the performance entitled the filter and welcome to the angel with a reference in the Pino Pascali's artwork.
Soon he becomes one of the protagonists of the Arte povera.
Among the materials most commonly used by Calzolari there are ice margarine, melted lead, the neon lettering, metallic materials, organic and natural, smooth, with a preference for relations involving the concept of transformation and adding physical objects as sound temporal experience.
In Arte povera movement he is distinguished by literary and poetic quality of his work with actions verging on performance (Canto sospeso, 1973).
He was present at the Venice Biennale in 1978, 1980 and 1990.
In 1992 at Documenta IX in Kassel.
In the 1980s, back to traditional paintings with abstractions of metaphysical and existential matrix, which previously featured alongside goods type sizes. In 1994 the retrospective is recognised as the National Gallery of Jeu de Paume in Paris and at the Castello di Rivoli in Turin.