Victor Bruno Contini was the fourth of five children born to Eduardo and Emmanuela Contini in Castellucio Valmaggiore, a picturesque mountain town in central Italy where the children romped in the hills and played in the shadows of an old Norman tower that belonged to the family. Victor began drawing in those days, but he was not to remain in Italy. His father, a volunteer soldier in World War I, emigrated to the United States in 1921. The rest of the family followed in 1928 and settled in the Cleveland, Ohio area.