Renato Birolli was born in Verona on 10 December 1905 into a working-class family: “As the son of a baker, at the age of six I was living in Verona’s Municipal Bakery, in the Campofiore district” (ACGV/FB).

In accordance with his father’s wishes, he completed a diploma in accounting before entering the artillery corps as an officer cadet. In 1925, he enrolled at the “C. B. Cignaroli” Academy of Fine Arts in Verona, where he attended painting classes taught by Trentini, Nardi and Girelli.

During his third year, he was expelled from the Verona Academy for “indiscipline and excesses in singing”.