Both her parents were professional musicians. Her father was a cellist and her mother was an accompanist.
Her unusual (and lyrical sounding) name was the subject of a
good-natured joke in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970).
Ted Baxter was challenged to think up an original joke. He came up with a knock-knock joke:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Anna Maria Alberghetti who?
(singing) Anna Maria Alberghetti in a taxi honey...
In 1962, Anna Maria Alberghetti and Diahann Carroll tied for the Tony Award for Lead Actress in a Musical. Anna Maria won for "Carnival!" and Diahann won for "No Strings".Theirs was the fourth of 10 ties in Tony history.