Celio Secondo was born on 1 May 1503 at Cirié, in Piedmont, not far from Turin, to Jacomino Troterio Curione and Charlotte de Montrotier (a lady in the court of Bianca of Savoy) who died giving birth to him.
The twenty-third of the sons of Jacomino, who married into the feudal family of the Counts di Provana, his surname may derive from the Castello di Cuori, near Ciriè.
He was brought up by his maternal aunt Maddalena at Moncalieri (in the Po valley under the Western Alps), a little town under the authority of Turin, where his father received public appointments and where his mother's family dwelt.
His father died when he was nine, leaving him among other things a precious illuminated Bible.

Around 1520 he began his studies at the University of Turin, where his masters were Giorgio Corona, Domenico Machaneo (commentator upon Suetonius) and Giovanni Bremio for Humanistic studies, and Francesco Sfondrati, future Cardinal, for Law.
Some of the Turin Augustinians introduced him to some of the writings of Luther, the De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae and Resolutiones Disputationum de Indulgentiarum Virtute, and other works of the reformers north of the Alps, the De Falsa et Vera Religione of Zwingli and the Loci Communes of Melancthon.
Curio and his friends Jacopo Cornello and Francesco Guarino (who became pastors at Geneva) were much enthused.

Curio planned a journey into Germany, but instead found himself imprisoned for two months in the fortress of Caprano by order of the Bishop of Ivrea, Cardinal Bonifacio Ferrero.
He was then sent to the Benedictine abbey of Fruttuaria at San Benigno Canavese, to be "purged" of heretical ideas through penitence and the study of orthodox texts.
This was unsuccessful: Curio violated the reliquary of SS Agapeto and Tiburtius, substituting a Bible for the bones, with a message in Latin: "This is the Ark of the Covenant, from which true Gospels can be brought forth and in which are found the true relics of the Saints."

The early chronology is unclear: his biographer states that, having fled to Milan, he distinguished himself by helping the citizens during an epidemic of the plague.
There was one such at Milan in 1524, and another in 1528 in the province of Bergamo.
To this period belong a journey to Padua and his enrolment in study, another journey to Rome and a later return to Milan, with (around 1530) his marriage to Margherita Bianca Isacchi (1509–1587) at Barzago (Brianza).
Celio Secondo was born on 1 May 1503 at Cirié, in Piedmont, not far from Turin, to Jacomino Troterio Curione and Charlotte de Montrotier (a lady in the court of Bianca of Savoy) who died giving birth to him. The twenty-third of the sons of Jacomino, who married into the feudal family of the Counts di Provana, his surname may derive from the Castello di Cuori, near Ciriè. He was brought up by his maternal aunt Maddalena at Moncalieri (in the Po valley under the Western Alps), a little town under the authority of Turin, where his father received public appointments and where his mother's family dwelt. His father died when he was nine, leaving him among other things a precious illuminated Bible.
Around 1520 he began his studies at the University of Turin, where his masters were Giorgio Corona, Domenico Machaneo (commentator upon Suetonius) and Giovanni Bremio for Humanistic studies, and Francesco Sfondrati, future Cardinal, for Law. Some of the Turin Augustinians introduced him to some of the writings of Luther, the De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiae and Resolutiones Disputationum de Indulgentiarum Virtute, and other works of the reformers north of the Alps, the De Falsa et Vera Religione of Zwingli and the Loci Communes of Melancthon. Curio and his friends Jacopo Cornello and Francesco Guarino (who became pastors at Geneva) were much enthused.
Curio planned a journey into Germany, but instead found himself imprisoned for two months in the fortress of Caprano by order of the Bishop of Ivrea, Cardinal Bonifacio Ferrero. He was then sent to the Benedictine abbey of Fruttuaria at San Benigno Canavese, to be "purged" of heretical ideas through penitence and the study of orthodox texts. This was unsuccessful: Curio violated the reliquary of SS Agapeto and Tiburtius, substituting a Bible for the bones, with a message in Latin: "This is the Ark of the Covenant, from which true Gospels can be brought forth and in which are found the true relics of the Saints."
The early chronology is unclear: his biographer states that, having fled to Milan, he distinguished himself by helping the citizens during an epidemic of the plague. There was one such at Milan in 1524, and another in 1528 in the province of Bergamo. To this period belong a journey to Padua and his enrolment in study, another journey to Rome and a later return to Milan, with (around 1530) his marriage to Margherita Bianca Isacchi (1509–1587) at Barzago (Brianza).
Celio Secondo Curione