In the same year he was invited to the 27th edition of the Venice Biennale and in 1951 he had a two-person exhibition with the sculptor Sarah Jackson at the Apollinaire Gallery in London.

In 1952, Scanavino worked at the Marzotti's Ceramic Factory in Albissola Marina, where he met and befriended many artists, including Lucio Fontana, Asger Jorn, Corneille, Roberto Matta, Wifredo Lam, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Enrico Baj, Sergio Dangelo, Roberto Crippa, Gianni Dova, Agenore Fabbri and Aligi Sassu.

In the same year he moved to Milan where he joined the Naviglio Gallery directed by Carlo Cardazzo with whom he established a long-standing friendship and proficuous working relation.

Cardazzo's brother, Renato, continued to run the Naviglio Gallery but the loss of Carlo had a huge impact in scanavino's life.

After participating for the fourth time to the Venice Biennale, when he won the Pininfarina Prize, Scanavino permanently moved to Calice Ligure in 1968.

[2] In 1970 he won the Gran Prix at the 10th Mentone Biennale and met Franco Castelli, then editor of L'uomo e l'Arte, who became one of his closest friends and supporters.

In the late 1970s years paintings, the “knot” became perfectly defined and recognizable, although his work became darker, sometimes even threatening due to the conspicuous presence of red stains resembling blood.