Alessandra Nicolini was born on 30th May 1967 in Trieste, Italy.
She got a high-school degree in classical studies and then graduated in Linguistics at the University of Trieste.

From 1998 to 2002 she works for the Trieste Contemporanea Committee and with the Art Gallery “Studio Tommaseo”, in charge of the paper and electronic archives and the organisation of the Executive Secretariat and the foreign Press Office for the Biennale Design Competition, among others.
From 2001 to 2006 Nicolini works in a number of schools as an Italian language teacher, both for native speakers and foreigners, and as a tutor for language courses financed by the European Social Fund.
In 2000 she takes part in the project L.U.N.A. (Lavorare con Urban nell’Artigianato Artistico, i.e. Working with Urban in artistic craftwork) and attends a work experience on glass manufacturing in Murano (Venice).
In 2002 she meets Josip Zanki and attends the workshop “Mountains”; in 2008 she attends the workshop “Back to heritage”.
In 2003, in cooperation with Manuela Višković, she edits the translation and the Italian version of the book “Put do tihe like” (“Verso il porto tranquillo”) by Robert Bacalja, with illustrations by Josip Zanki, and the novels collected in “Il gioco fiorentino” by the same author, that were included in the 25 copies of the graphic works portfolio by Josip Zanki.