Himself the son and grandson of barbers, Giacinto was born in Ururi, a small village in the Italian province of Campobasso. He was the youngest of 10 children in a poor family, whose barbershop only had scissors and a couple of straight razors. He worked out of his father's shop from the tender age of 13.
Things were peaceful until 8 years later, in 1941, he would be drafted into the Italian army.
Eventually he was finally able to return home. His family greeted him warmly, but they were extremely poor and couldn't exactly hold a welcoming feast for him and his brothers. Some time later, a generous party gave the family a bag of potatoes — a humble gift that saved them from starvation. They also had a habit of making tea out of pinecones simply because it was better than nothing.
In the end, along with millions of others fleeing the chaos of Europe, he and his wife would pack their bags and bet everything on Canada. It was that decision that made the war the defining moment in his life, because that's when everything would change for the family, forever.