Ferrari was born on 21 March 1952 in Monterotondo, a municipality within the Metropolital City of Rome. She studied physics at Sapienza University of Rome under the supervision of Giovanni Vittorio Pallottino, earning a degree in 1976 with the thesis On dispersion phenomena in a gravitational wave antenna.[1][2]
After working as a researcher at Sapienza University from 1977 to 1993, she became an associate professor in 1993, and full professor in 2000.[1] Her doctoral students at Sapienza University have included M. Alessandra Papa in 1997[3] and Raffaella Schneider in 2000.[2]
Andersson, N.; Ferrari, V.; Jones, D. I.; Kokkotas, K. D.; Krishnan, B.; Read, J. S.; Rezzolla, L.; Zink, B. (2011), "Gravitational waves from neutron stars: promises and challenges", General Relativity and Gravitation, 43 (2): 409–436, arXiv:0912.0384, Bibcode:2011GReGr..43..409A, doi:10.1007/s10714-010-1059-4, S2CID119195365