Ferrari was very close to his paternal grandmother, Adalgisa Bisbini (1872-1965). His legitimate half-brother, Dino, died in 1956 of muscular dystrophy when Piero was ten. Piero is married to Floriana Nalin and has a daughter, Antonella, and two grandsons, Enzo and Piero. He lives in Modena in his father’s old residence.

Ferrari grew up in Modena. He became passionate about mechanics by hanging out in a bike repair shop close to his mother’s home. In 1964, he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering at the Fermo Corni Institute in Modena.

In 1969 Ferrari started working informally for the family company as an English translator for his father. In the early 1970s he was officially hired as technical supervisor, with the task of listing, describing and archiving defective or ineffective car components. One of his early jobs was taking the drawings and parts of the 196 Dino to the GT department, acting as a bridge between the road car and racing division. In doing so, he earned considerable experience about the operational dynamics of the factory.

In 1974 he was moved to the Formula One team, where he worked as a co-organiser, assisting sporting directors Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and Daniele Audetto. In the mid-1980s he became supervisor of the production of road cars, where he helped developing concepts for the low-volume Ferrari F40, Ferrari F50 and LaFerrari.

Piero Ferrari is the son of Enzo Ferrari and his mistress, Lina Lardi (1911-2006). Enzo had met Lina in the late 1930s when she was working at Carrozzerie Orlandi, a coachbuilder company in Modena. The two became romantically involved soon after and continued their relationship until Ferrari’s death in 1988. As divorce was illegal in Italy until 1975, Piero could not be acknowledged as a Ferrari family member until the death of Enzo’s estranged wife, Laura, in 1978. In 1990 he legally changed his name from Piero Lardi Ferrari to Piero Ferrari.

In 1988, when Enzo Ferrari died, Piero was the sole heir of the Ferrari family and inherited his father’s 10% share of the company and the ownership of the Fiorano Circuit. In 1989 he was nominated vice chairman by Ferrari’s then president Vittorio Ghidella.

In 1998 Ferrari teamed up with José Di Mase and purchased Piaggio Aero Engineering with the idea of bringing Piaggio back to its roots as a designer and producer of business aircraft. Ferrari was nominated president. He resigned in 2015 when he sold the final 1.95% of his shares to Mubadala Development Company. The connection proved fruitful as Ferrari was then able to persuade Mubadala to become a title sponsor of the Ferrari Formula One Team the following year.

Ferrari is also the chairman of HPE COXA, a company he founded in 1998 with the aim of providing high end engineering services in the mechanical field. In 2009 HPE acquired COXA, a manufacturing firm founded in 1985 and specialized in the high precision manufacturing of niche volumes and prototypes.

Ferrari was awarded the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro in 2004. In 2004, he received an honorary degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Naples.

Following Ferrari’s IPO on 21 October 2015, his 10% stake was valued at US$1.1 billion.

On 28 April 2016 he entered into the Ferretti Group with 13.2% of shares.

In May 2019 he was ranked by Forbes at number 838 in the world’s billionaires list with a net worth of $3.1 billion. Also in 2019 he acquired the first mega yacht built by Riva—the 50m “RACE”—that launched the new superyacht division of the Ferretti Group.

In April 2020 he was ranked by Forbes at number 680 in the world’s billionaires list with a net worth of $3.4 billion.