Giulio Boschi was born in Perugia, as the youngest of the eleven children of Francesco and Giusseppa (née Mancini) Boschi. His siblings included: Assunta (b. 1813), Gaspare (b. 1816), Piera (b. 1818), Flora (b. 1820), Giovanni (b. 1823), Alessandro (b. 1826), Ferdinando (b. 1828), Vincenzo (b. 1831), Cesare (b. 1832), and Nicola (b. 1835). He received both his first Communion and the Sacrament of Confirmation from Archbishop Gioacchino Pecci.
Cardinal Boschi died in Rome at the age of 82. His funeral was held at the church of S. Ignazio four days later, on 19 May 1919, and he was then buried at the chapel of St. Peter's Basilica in the Campo Verano cemetery.