Rino Baggio was born in Australia to Italian parents. His father began as a scout from the Padova province, helping inform others from the Veneto about opportunities in Australia. Rino Baggio Snr worked as a labourer for a 'cocky', worked in railway construction, and was employed in a salt works. He eventually took up farming in the Werribee Irrigation District. Rino Jnr began his education at the one-room, eight-grade, one-teacher Little River Primary School, moving on to Christian Brothers schools in Geelong and Melbourne. He left school at 15 to work in his father's market garden. From 1976 he worked with an insurance and investment organisation in Melbourne.
