Dandini was born and raised in Rome, the daughter of Count Francesco Lorenzo Dandini De Sylva, a lawyer and descendant of an ancient family of Roman nobility; and of the Marchioness Silvia Vaccari, sister of the founder of the Vaccari Institute.

[1][2][3][4] After studying at the Giulio Cesare classical high school she enrolled at the Sapienza University of Rome in the Anglo-American literature course, stopping three exams before her graduation to begin her career on the radio at the end of the seventies.

In 1995 she hosted the Sanremo Music Festival 1995, with Luciano De Crescenzo, Fabio Fazio and Gianni Ippoliti.

[14] She has a daughter, Adele Tulli, born in 1982 (director of the documentary 365 without 377 on the battles of the LGBT movement in India for the abolition of section 377 of the Indian penal code).

[16] Her brother Ferdinando is an aeronautical engineer and currently a lecturer at Luiss Guido Carli and the University of Tor Vergata in Rome.