Giovanni Battista Emanuele Maria Segatini ["sic"] was born at Arco in Trentino, which was then part of the County of Tyrol in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He later changed his family name by adding an "n" after the "a". He was the second child of Agostino Segatini (1802–1866) and Margarita De Girardi (1828–1865). His older brother, Lodovico, died in a fire the year Giovanni was born. During the first seven years of his life, his father, who was a tradesman, traveled extensively while looking for work. Except for a six-month period in 1864 when Agostino returned to Trentino, Segantini spent his early years with his mother, who experienced severe depression due to the death of Lodovico. These years were marked by poverty, hunger and limited education due to his mother's inability to cope.