Interested in science from a young age, he studied physics at the Sapienza University of Rome, graduating in 1958 with a thesis completed under Bruno Touschek.

[2] Despite growing up during World War II, his elementary school education ran uninterrupted, and he subsequently attended the Liceo Torquato Tasso.

[3] After the end of the war, Cabibbo also developed an interest in American literature and often frequented the library of the United States embassy to read and borrow books.

[4] His favourite authors were Ernest Hemingway, Theodore Dreiser and Herman Melville,[4] but he also enjoyed science fiction and books on arctic expeditions.

[5] His thesis, which focused on weak interactions and muon decay, was completed under the supervision of Bruno Touschek and was done in collaboration with fellow students Francesco Calogero and Paolo Guidoni.

Cabibbo supported attempts to rehabilitate executed Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, citing the apologies on Galileo Galilei as a possible model to correct the historical wrongs done by the Church.