During World War II he was drafted and served from 1943 until 1946 in the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) at La Spezia).
Together with another mosaicist, his fellow Ravennan Lino Melano, Guardigli executed mosaic works for artists including Fernand Léger, Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Jean Bazaine, and Raoul Ubac.
He collaborated also on the mosaic for the façade of the Musée national Fernand Léger in Biot (Alpes-Maritimes).
In 1962, in another collaboration with Braque, Guardigli created the famous long fish tank of the Fondation Maeght in St Paul de Vence.
The latter portion of his life was spent in an old people's rest home in Paris, where Guardigli died in 2008.