His mother, Ilaria Vladimirovna Sokoloff, was an actress and a singer, while his father, Alexander Amfiteatrov, was a writer and a journalist.

When the Russian Revolution outbroke, his family escaped to Italy and settled in Liguria, first in Cavi (a frazione of Lavagna) and then in Levanto, in the Province of La Spezia.

In Levanto the Amfiteatrof family gave hospitality to other Russian refugees, especially artists, and made its house a well-known cultural and intellectual circle.

Having a culturally strong background, Massimo Amfiteatrof began to study cello and moved to Milan to attend the local Conservatory.

[5] Massimo Amfiteatrof also taught at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Naples Conservatory and made some records (many of them published by Decca Records) together with the Virtuosi di Roma string quartet in which violinists such as Renato Fasano and Luigi Ferro did participate.