Her passion for painting and the theatre prompted her to study at the Milan Academy of Fine Arts, from which she graduated. In 2007, she joined the La Scala Theatre Academy in Milan to learn the profession of costume designer alongside set and costume designers. In 2008, she undertook her first major project, designing the costumes for Carmen at the Teatro Coccia di Novara. The same year, she directed Madame Butterfly. In 2009, she met Emma Dante and worked alongside her on the costumes for Carmen at La Scala in Milan. In 2010, she designed the costumes for D'un fil à la patte with Guillaume Gallienne, directed by Jérôme Deschamps at the Comédie Française in Paris. She won the Molière for Best Costume Design. A year later, she collaborated with Juliette Deschamps on a number of projects in the north of France and in Paris, including A Queen of Heart, where her inventive and imaginative costumes proved very popular. In 2012, she designed the costumes for Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Vienna Staatsoper.

In May, she worked on Mârouf, savetier du Caire at the Opéra Comique and in December, she designed the costumes for Les Mousquetaires au couvent for the Opéra de Lausanne. Her costumes for Feuersnot directed by Emma Dante opened the 2014/2015 season at the Palermo Opera. In February, she worked on Duke Bluebeard's Castle by Juliette Deschamps and in July on Armida for the Festival de la Vallée d'Itria in Italy. In January 2015, Vanessa Sannino designed the costumes for Gisela directed by Emma Dante, then in October she designed those for Cherubin (Massenet) at the Opéra National de Montpellier, directed by Juliette Deschamps.In January 2016, Emma Dante called on her again for La Cenerentola at the Rome Opera Theatre.

Vanessa Sannino is involved in a number of theatre projects, and continues to work in visual arts and photography alongside her career as a costume designer.She is studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin.