 Although her grandparents were Italian immigrants, Barolini spoke no Italian until she hired a tutor at Syracuse to teach her the language.She graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University in 1947, received a "diploma di profitto" from the University of Florence in 1950, and earned a master's degree in library science from Columbia University in 1959.After graduating from Syracuse, Barolini traveled to Italy, studying in Perugia and writing articles for the "Syracuse Herald-Journal".