[1] She studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, won several vocal competitions in 1968, and made her professional debut as Mimì in Puccini's La bohème in Mantua in 1969.

[1] Beside her many opera performances, Ricciarelli also appeared as Desdemona in Franco Zeffirelli's film version of Verdi's Otello in 1986, alongside Plácido Domingo.

In 1991, she founded Accademia Lirica di Katia Ricciarelli, and, between 2003–2005, she was artistic director of the annual summer Macerata Opera festival.

In 2005, she won the best actress prize Nastro d'Argento, awarded by the Italian film journalists, for her role in Pupi Avati's La seconda notte di nozze.

In 1986, on her 40th birthday, Ricciarelli married Pippo Baudo, a television personality; she filed for divorce in the summer of 2004.