Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was born in Brescia on 5 January 1920 to Umbrian parents who had moved to the Lombard city a few months earlier.

His father Giuseppe is descended from a notable family of Foligno; graduated in Law and Philosophy, he practices the profession of lawyer and simultaneously gives lessons in the history of music, theory and harmony, having also obtained a diploma in composition and piano.

His mother, Angela Paparoni, spent her childhood and youth with her parents and uncles, first in Terni and then in Bologna; She graduated from the magistral institute, undertook her university studies in letters and mathematics without finishing them, and she took care of the education of children and the running of the family.