[1][2] Levi was born within a Jewish middle-class family and attended the Liceo classico Tito Livio in Padua.

In 1915 she started her career as an inspector at the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Napoli, and soon after met her future husband and opponent of Fascism, Vittorio Spinazzola [it].

Levi moved to Bologna (1924) and then Milan (1925) and she was appointed as director of the Ufficio distaccato della Soprintendenza alle antichità of Turin first, and Padua thereafter.

Furthermore, she published the Patera di Parabiago and a catalogue of the Greek and Roman sculptures of the Ducal palace, Mantua.

Following the publication of the Italian Racial Laws, Levi lost her job and moved to Rome, constantly in fear of deportation.