Parma. He attended university between 1893 and 1895 but did not graduate because of his political militancy. During this period, he joined the workers and other students of Parma in protests against the Italian colonial wars in Africa, and in 1896 he was targeted by the authorities and accused of defamation in the press.

In 1897, he was called up for compulsory military service in La Spezia, where he tried to desert to join a group of Italian Republicans who