Elisabetta Arioti has a degree in Contemporary History at the University of Bologna and she graduated in archives administration, paleography and diplomatic at the State Archives School in Bologna. She started working in the Archival Administration in 1983.
Afterwards, she worked for the State Archives in Bologna, for the Superintendence Office of Emilia Romagna and for the State Archives in Gubbio. Between 1997 and 1999, she worked as referendary for the Historical Archives of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. Currently she is the Archival Superintendent for Liguria.  
She published many essays on history and archival administration, centered in particular on mutualism, on the archives of the Institutes for the Resistance History and on contemporary public and private archives.