As a result, Cleonice lived in many parts of Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
In Rio, she studied at the National Institute of Music under the guidance of Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez, who was also her piano teacher.
She was also a full professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 1963, and made emerita there in 2006.
Berardinelli was the sixth occupant of chair number eight at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, to which she was elected on 16 December 2009, in succession of Antônio Olinto.
She was received on 5 April 2010, by academician Affonso Arinos de Mello Franco (Afonso Filho).