[1][2] From an early age, Aymo Maggi was trained in hunting, shooting and equestrian sports by his father, who was an avid horseman.

[1] Maggi also grew up alongside the future count Franco Mazzotti [it], the son of a wealthy banker from Milan, Italy, who had a summer estate at Chiari, Lombardy, and the two were childhood friends.

While not enthusiastic about horses or horseback riding, Maggi was still a very competent rider, and won a bet placed by his friends at the Academy for breaking in a "particularly fiery black stallion, which did its best to throw him across the cobbled yard".

[3] With Mazzotti and two others, he was the organiser of the first Mille Miglia in 1927, as Brescia in 1921 had lost the role of hosting the Italian Grand Prix to Milan and the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

When Italy entered World War II on the side of the Axis Powers in 1940, Maggi joined the Regiment "Savoia Cavalleria" (3rd) as a captain.

However, shortly after being stationed at Gaeta, Maggi experienced severe stomach pains, and was diagnosed with acute ulcers on his lower intestine.

Mazzotti would be killed in action while serving as a pilot and commanding officer of a special combat group in the Italian Air Force in the winter of 1941, aged 38.

The wedding was attended only by relatives and close friends, including both Mazzotti and Arturo Ferrarin, aviator of the Rome to Tokyo record flight and of Schneider Cup fame.