 He was not of a rich family, but distinguished himself in the high school in Cremona as a fervent Socialist and anti-militarist through his writings in the pages of the school paper "Lo Studente" ("The Student"), which caused him some trouble with the police because this was during the First World War.He arrived in Pavia in 1917 as a student of medicine and earned himself a place in the Ghislieri College which is linked to the University of Pavia, but little afterwards he was called to carry out military service.He managed to reestablish a link with his Cremonese contacts and resumed his place in the Socialist Youth.