Massimo Vitali was born in Como in 1944. After he had finished school he went to London, in order to study photography at the London College of Printing. Subsequently he was active as a photo journalist for various agencies and magazines. In the early 1960s he became acquainted with Simon Guttmann, founder of the photo agency "Report", who would have decisive impact on Vitali's development as a photographer. In the 1980s Vitali also worked as camera man for motion pictures and television.
In 1995 he began his photography series of beach pictures, which he saw as portraits of the world. Massimo Vitali lives and works in Lucca and Berlin.