Magnani's parentage and birthplace are uncertain. Some sources suggest she was born in Rome, others in Egypt. Her mother was Marina Magnani. The film director, Franco Zeffirelli, who claimed to know Magnani well, states in his autobiography that she was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to an Italian-Jewish mother and Egyptian father, and that "only later did she become Roman when her grandmother brought her over and raised her in one of the Roman slum districts." Magnani herself stated that her mother was married in Egypt but returned to Rome before giving birth to her at Porta Pia, and did not know how the rumour of her Egyptian birth got started. She was enrolled in a French convent school in Rome where she learned to speak French and play the piano. She also developed a passion for acting from watching the nuns stage their Christmas plays. This period of formal education lasted until the age of 14.