Vittorio Storaro
Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C, A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940), is an Italian cinematographer, widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history. Over the course of 50 years, he has collaborated with directors like Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, and Carlos Saura. Storaro is one of three living people to have won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography three times, a position he shares with Robert Richardson and Emmanuel Lubezki.
Vittorio Storaro

Ilya Mauter · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Vittorio Storaro
- Born
- 24 June 1940
- Birthplace
- Rome, Italy
- Education
- Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia
- Nationality
- Italy
- Occupation
- cinematographer · camera operator · photographer
- Honours
- Academy Award for Best Cinematography · European Film Award for Best Cinematographer · Cinearti La chioma di Berenice Prize · Academy Awards · David di Donatello for Best Cinematography · BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography
- Languages
- Italian
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C, A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940), is an Italian cinematographer, widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history. Over the course of 50 years, he has collaborated with directors like Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, and Carlos Saura. Storaro is one of three living people to have won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography three times, a position he shares with Robert Richardson and Emmanuel Lubezki.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Vittorio Storaro. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
gnd · 5061551-8 · wikidata · Q363413 · wikipedia · Vittorio Storaro
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Vittorio Storaro • Born — 24 June 1940 • Birthplace — Rome, Italy • Education — Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia • Years Active — 1960–2023 • Organization — American Society of Cinematographers Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia Cinematografica
Early life and education
Early life and education
• Illustration — Storaro in Camerimage Festival 23 in 2015, talking about how color affects people physically and psychologically Born in Rome, Storaro is the son of a film projectionist. He began studying photography at the age of 11, and at the age of 18, he went on to formal cinematography studies at the national Italian film school, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
Career
Career
Storaro's philosophy is largely inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's theory of colors, which focuses in part on the psychological effects that different colors have and the way in which colors influence our perceptions of different situations. He first worked with Bernardo Bertolucci on The Conformist (1970). He then worked on Dario Argento's first directorial feature The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), which is considered a landmark in the giallo genre. With Francis Ford Coppola, Storaro made his American film debut with Apocalypse Now (1979), which earned him his first Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Storaro went to win two more Academy Awards in the 1980s, one with Warren Beatty's Reds (1981) and one for Bertolucci's The Last Emperor (1987). In 2002, Storaro completed the first in a series of books that articulate his philosophy of cinematography. He was the cinematographer for a BBC co-production with Italian broadcaster RAI of Verdi's Rigoletto over two nights on the weekend of 4 and 5 September 2010. Though working primarily with film cameras, Woody Allen's feature Café Society (2016) was Storaro's first project to be shot digitally. In 2017, Storaro was honored with the George Eastman Award. The same year he also attended the New York Film Festival at which he debated with Edward Lachman on cinematography and its transition from film to digital. With his son Fabrizio, he created the Univisium format system to unify all future theatrical and television movies into one respective aspect ratio of 2.00:1. As of 2023, this unification has not happened, and the universal replacement of 4:3 televisions by large, wide-screen displays greatly reduces the need to modify scope-ratio films for home theater presentation.
Personal life
Personal life
Storaro is known for stylish, fastidious, and flamboyant personal fashion. Francis Ford Coppola once noted, "Vittorio is the only man I ever knew that could fall off a ladder in a white suit, into the mud, and not get dirty."
Television
Television
• Year — Title — Director • 1971 — Eneide — Franco Rossi Miniseries • Year — Title — Director — Notes • 1974 — Orlando Furioso — Luca Ronconi — With Arturo Zavattini • 1983 — Wagner — Tony Palmer • 1986 — Peter the Great — Marvin J. Chomsky Lawrence Schiller • 2000 — Frank Herbert's Dune — John Harrison • 2007 — Caravaggio — Angelo Longoni TV movies • Year — Title — Director — Notes • 1992 — Tosca: In the Settings and at the Times of Tosca — Brian Large • Writing with Light: Vittorio Storaro — David M. Thompson — Documentary film • 2000 — La traviata — Pierre Cavassilas • 2010 — Rigoletto a Mantova
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1940
Vittorio Storaro born at Rome.
Feature film
• Year — Title — Director — Notes • 1962 — Attack of the Normans — Giuseppe Vari — With Marco Scarpelli • 1969 — Youth March — Franco Rossi • Delitto al circolo del tennis — Franco Rossetti • 1970 — The Bird with the Crystal Plumage — Dario Argento • The Conformist — Bernardo Bertolucci • The Spider's Stratagem — With Franco Di Giacomo • 1971 — The Fifth Cord — Luigi Bazzoni • Tis Pity She's a Whore — Giuseppe Patroni Griffi • 1972 — Last Tango in Paris — Bernardo Bertolucci • 1973 — Malicious — Salvatore Samperi • Brothers Blue — Luigi Bazzoni • Corpo d'amore — Fabio Carpi • Giordano Bruno — Giuliano Montaldo • 1974 — The Driver's Seat — Giuseppe Patroni Griffi • 1975 — Footprints on the Moon — Luigi Bazzoni Mario Fanelli • 1976 — 1900 — Bernardo Bertolucci • Submission — Salvatore Samperi • 1979 — Agatha — Michael Apted • Apocalypse Now — Francis Ford Coppola • Luna — Bernardo Bertolucci • 1981 — Reds — Warren Beatty • 1982 — One from the Heart — Francis Ford Coppola — With Ronald Víctor García • 1985 — Ladyhawke — Richard Donner • 1987 — Ishtar — Elaine May • The Last Emperor — Bernardo Bertolucci • 1988 — Tucker: The Man and His Dream — Francis Ford Coppola • 1990 — Dick Tracy — Warren Beatty • The Sheltering Sky — Bernardo Bertolucci • 1992 — Tosca — Brian Large • 1993 — Little Buddha — Bernardo Bertolucci • 1996 — Taxi — Carlos Saura • 1998 — Bulworth — Warren Beatty • Tango — Carlos Saura • 1999 — Goya in Bordeaux • 2000 — Mirka — Rachid Benhadj • Picking Up the Pieces — Alfonso Arau • 2004 — Zapata: el sueño del héroe • Exorcist: The Beginning — Renny Harlin • 2005 — Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist — Paul Schrader • 2009 — I, Don Giovanni — Carlos Saura • 2010 — The Trick in the Sheet — Alfonso Arau • 2012 — Parfums d'Alger — Rachid Benhadj • 2015 — Muhammad: The Messenger of God — Majid Majidi • 2016 — Café Society — Woody Allen • 2017 — Wonder Wheel • 2018 — A Rose in Winter — Joshua Sinclair • 2019 — A Rainy Day in New York — Woody Allen • 2020 — Rifkin's Festival • 2021 — The King of All the World — Carlos Saura • 2023 — Coup de chance — Woody Allen Documentary film • Year — Title — Director • 1994 — Roma imago urbis — Luigi Bazzoni • 1995 — Flamenco — Carlos Saura • 2010 — Flamenco Flamenco
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q363413: Vittorio Storaro
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Vittorio Storaro”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 5061551-8, Mostra Vittorio Storaro, Un Percorso di Luce (1989 : Turin).
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1980 — Best Cinematography — Apocalypse Now • 1982 — Reds • 1988 — The Last Emperor • 1991 — Dick Tracy British Academy Film Awards • Year — Category — Title — Result — Ref. • 1980 — Best Cinematography — Apocalypse Now • 1983 — Reds • 1989 — The Last Emperor • 1991 — The Sheltering Sky American Society of Cinematographers • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1988 — Outstanding Cinematography — The Last Emperor • 1991 — Dick Tracy • 2001 — Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Limited Series — Dune • Lifetime Achievement Award European Film Awards • Year — Category — Title — Result — Ref. • 2000 — Best Cinematography — Goya en Burdeos Primetime Emmy Awards • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1986 — Best Cinematography for a Miniseries or Special — Peter the Great • 2001 — Frank Herbert's Dune Cannes Film Festival • Year — Category — Title — Result — Ref. • 1998 — Technical Grand Prize — Tango, no me dejes nunca International Film Festival of India • Year — Category — Result — Ref. • 2020 — Lifetime Achievement Award British Society of Cinematographers • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1979 — Best Cinematography — Apocalypse Now • 1988 — The Last Emperor • 1990 — Dick Tracy National Society of Film Critics • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1972 — Best Cinematography — The Conformist New York Film Critics Circle Awards • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1987 — Best Cinematography — The Sheltering Sky • 1990 — The Last Emperor Los Angeles Film Critics Association • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1981 — Best Cinematography — Reds • 1988 — The Last Emperor George Eastman Award • Year — Category — Result • 2017 — Lifetime Achievement Award Goya Awards • Year — Category — Title — Result • 1996 — Best Cinematography — Flamenco (de Carlos Saura) • 1999 — Tango, no me dejes nunca • 2000 — Goya en Burdeos

Vittorio Storaro
Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara · Vittorio Storaro

Vittorio Storaro at Camerimage 23 in 2015 talking about Color in Culture
ArturoAlmanza
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 5061551-8, Mostra Vittorio Storaro, Un Percorso di Luce (1989 : Turin).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Photography
11,392 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Vittorio AlinariPhotographer
- Vittorio CalcinaPhotographer
- Vittorio SantoroPhotographer
- Vittorio SellaPhotographer
- Viva GibbPhotographer
- Vivian CherryPhotographer
- Vivian MaierPhotographer
- ViviennePhotographer
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Vittorio Storaro?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.