Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was born in Chiaravalle, Italy, to Alessandro Montessori, an official in the Ministry of Finance, and Renilde Stoppani, who was well-educated and came from a family with scholarly traditions. This upbringing, though traditional, provided a foundation for Maria's later intellectual pursuits and her drive to challenge societal norms.

Montessori's early ambition to become an engineer met resistance, but with persistence, she enrolled in Physics, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences at the University of Rome. These studies served as a precursor to her audacious pursuit of a medical degree, a field largely closed to women at the time.