[1] Bardi attended the Nunziatella Military School in Naples, in the Campania region, where he obtained a liceo classico diploma and later came to hold several degrees.

As army corps general, a rank achieved on 6 February 2009, Bardi held the positions of interregional commander of Southern Italy and inspector of educational institutions.

[16] In doing so, he became the first right-wing president of Basilicata in 49 years and after 24 uninterrupted years of centre-left coalition leadership;[17] due to the centre-left coalition's roots in the region,[18][19] Basilicata has been described as the political equivalent of the left-wing Emilia-Romagna region in Southern Italy.

One was related to bad politics,[24][25] with charges ranging from corruption and attempted extortion to abuse of office, embezzlement, and influence peddling.

[26][27][28] The other was related to a broader investigation, which started in 2018 and prompted Bardi's predecessor Marcello Pittella's resignation and included hundreds of people, later reduced to 27, as part of the region's health care inquiry about its mismanagement,[29] with Bardi charged of attempted undue inducement.

[51][52][53] At the time of his election to president of Basilicata in 2019, Bardi had been married for over 35 years to Gisella Pischedda;[54][55] together, they have two adult sons, Andrea and Luca.