After earning a master's degree in architecture at the University of Florence, Bolognini enrolled at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Italian National Film Academy) in Rome, where he studied stage design.

After graduation, he became interested in film direction and set out to work as an assistant to directors Luigi Zampa in Italy, and Yves Allégret and Jean Delannoy in France.

In 1981, Bolognini filmed The Lady of the Camellias (La storia vera della signora delle camelie), inspired by the Alexandre Dumas, fils novel and play.

His final feature was the soft-core erotic drama Husband and Lovers (La villa del venerdì) starring Julian Sands and Joanna Pacula, released in 1991.

It was followed, in the same year, by Puccini's Tosca at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in Rome, and by many others, including: Vincenzo Bellini's Norma at La Scala in Milan (1972), and at the Bolshoi opera house in Moscow (1975); Verdi's Aida at La Fenice in Venice (1978); and Henze's Pollicino at the Poliziano opera house in Montepulciano (1995).