Auguste was one of three children born to Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Saxony.

After a strict Catholic upbringing, she developed an interest in the arts and sciences early in life.

Through this marriage her descendants, the royal house of Bavaria, could also claim descent from the most senior branch, extinct in the male line since 1777, of the House of Wittelsbach; the last male member of the elder branch being Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, whose death sparked the War of the Bavarian Succession.

Auguste Ferdinande was descended from Duchess Maria Antonia Walpurgis of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony, who was the eldest sister of the aforementioned Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, and daughter of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.

They had four children (with whom she always spoke Italian), including Ludwig III of Bavaria, and she was a great support for Luitpold in all his political activities.