Mirella Vescovi was born in Milan in 1935. She started hiking and climbing at a very young age. In 1961, she married Luciano Tenderini and left a post as a civil servant at the European Community in Brussels to manage refuges with him in various places in the Alps. In 1974 Mirella Tenderini began dealing with art books at Electa and other publishers and in 1982 she founded an international literary agency for art and photographic books.

During this period, she takes care of the foreign editions of Walter Bonatti's photographic books, accompanies him in presentations and assists him as an interpreter and translator in his conferences, and begins her activity as Italian correspondent for "Mountain" which opens the doors to the international mountain edition. In Italy, the collaboration with ALP led her to the creation and direction of series of mountain books ("I Cristalli", "I Licheni", "Le Tracce" and "i Tascabili) for the Turin editions Vivalda and CDA She is the author of mountaineering and adventure books (Gary Hemming, The Duke Of Abruzzi, Le Nevi Dell'Equatore, All Men Of K2, Shackleton's Long Night, Isabelle Friend Of The Desert and others), some of which have been translated into several languages and literary winners. She translates books from four languages and is a member of the jury of numerous literary and cinematographic awards on mountaineering. He lectures on mountaineering in Italy and abroad (France , USA, India) He is currently in charge of the "Oltre Confine" and "I Miti" series of the Alpine Studio publisher in Lecco and collaborates in the directory of the Himalayan Club.

Mirella Tenderini has always been involved in the mountains and has lived there since 1961. She has always been actively interested in the mountains, bringing Italian mountaineering abroad and that of other countries to Italy.

Her editorial activity and her passion for research lead her around the world and into contact with mountaineers of different nationalities with whom she makes friends. The house of Mirella and Luciano Tenderini, at the foot of the Grigna, is a laboratory of ideas, an open refuge frequented by mountaineers, many of whom are famous; Characters like Bonatti and Cassin – lifelong friends, Alfonso Vinci, Kurt Diemberger, Don Whillans, Tom Frost, Jim Bridwell, Allen Steck, John Harlin J. meet Italian mountaineers and young writers whom Mirella guides on the difficult path of writing. Even after Luciano's death, Mirella's cultural action continues: lucid, tireless and courageous she continues to write,