1911

Ele D'Artagnan was born in Venice, Italy, on November 13, 1911. Born to a woman "who wished not to be identified," the newborn is brought to the Town Hall at 11 p.m. by a midwife, Amalia Verza, aged 61, accompanied by two witnesses, Anna Albanese, 67 , and Giulia Gregolin, 49. The three women declare that it is the desire of the baby's mother to name the newborn Michele and to give him the (false) surname Stinelli. Baby Michele is turned over to the Venice County Institute for Children, S. Maria della Pieta: an orphanage.

1920

During his youth, while in boarding school at the orphanage, D'Artagnan spends holidays and summers with farming families in outlying villages of the provinces of Padova and Treviso (Zero Branco, Sambughé, Preganziol etc.). Here he works the fields and acquires an adoptive family. In later life he will often declare that while growing up he had 10 stepmothers plus one Mother Superior. He studies the rudiments of music with Maestro Casagrande at night school.

1921/22

Continues his schooling. Studies music and takes trumpet lessons in the nearby town of Preganziol. He is later enrolled at the Royal Institute (for Music?) Francesco Manzato in Treviso.

1923/25

Attends his first acting classes with the director Zanuzzi at the Garibaldi Theatre in Treviso. D'Artagnan is 14 years old, and it is during this period of his life that his passion for acting and bicycles was born. He will later write about this period: "I ran around wildly on my bike and lashed out at everyone: "...I was a proud 14 year old farmboy ... and I was visited periodically by certain strangers from the outside." As an adult he would define himself as "Artist and actor/peasant."

1926/29

His high school days conclude, as do his trumpet studies. He has a small part in a theater recital at the Ca' Pesaro in Venice. On February 17, 1926, D'Artagnan enters military school for the Customs Officers [Guardia di Finanza, a branch of the military], and is sent into service shortly thereafter along the Alpine border in Sondrio. This term of service ends on February 22, 1933.

1934/37

D'Artagnan is called back into military service, this time to Rome, where he arrives from Treviso by bicycle together with a friend. On June 21, 1934, he begins service as a trumpeter for the Royal Marching Band of his Majesty and il Duce. He takes up residence in Rome and proudly declares himself a citizen of Rome. This full-time service with the band ends in 1936, but D. remains on reserve. In fact, the band is called upon frequently to play at large rallies organized at that time by the King and il Duce, such as Hitler's arrival in Rome in 1938.

1938/49

During these years D'Artagnan works as an agent and traveling salesman. Although based in Milan, he spends long periods in Bolzano, Venezia, Treviso, and Padova, with occasional stops in Rome. He is a representative for companies such as Borletti, AEG, Alemagna, and Motta. War breaks out. Times are difficult for everyone. The Nazis take over and people are deported to concentration camps. D'Artagnan will often tell the story of how he saved a Partisan's life on Via Vitruvio in Milan in 1944. In addition to his sales job he participates in comedy and music shows, and even serves as master of ceremony for fashion shows and beauty contests. In Preganziol he has a part in the famous comic farce Nina non far la stupida. D'Artagnan makes his film debut as an extra in the films Fabiola and Sign of the Cross. After the war, he wins a literary competition sponsored by the newspaper Milano Sera. (The winning entry is unfortunately lost.) Later, his novella, "La Casa" wins a prize and is published in the Gazzettino di Venezia, with the help of Prof. Giorgio Zamberlan, director at that time of the magazine Italie and Suisse. D'Artagnan also dabbles in painting and drawing; his first "Zucca," a watercolor, dates back to 1939. The zucca (or "squash") motif will become a steady icon in his future work, testimony of his country origins as well as symbol of l'eros panico present in the fruit of the earth. He works as an actor for fotoromanzi [Italian photo-romance magazines], continues his involvement with the theater, and gradually abandons his vocation as traveling salesman.

Translation from Italian by Kate Dejardins, Mary Norris and Pietro Gallina