Gramaccini studied art history at the Universitat Hamburg, at the Warburg Institute in London, and at the Institute for Art History in Florence. He was an assistant professor at the Universitat Trier following his doctorate from Hamburg, and before accepting his first professorship at the Universitat Freibrug im Breisgau. Since 1991 he has been full professor and director of the Institut fur Kunstgeschichte at the Universitat Bern.