He was born in Fano in the region of Marche, Italy, as the son of a Parmesan painter Cecrope Barilli and his wife, Anna Adanti.
[1] As a member of a noted family that, for centuries gave a lot of artists, he studied musical composition at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory at Parma.
Barilli wrote the music and libretto for the opera Emiral (1915), awarded a prize in a Roman competition judged by Giacomo Puccini.
Here he met with friends Emilio Cecchi, Antonio Baldini, and Vincenzo Cardarelli, but also encountered Ungaretti, Carlo Socrate]], Soffici, Pasqualina Spadini, Mario Broglio, Armando Ferri, Quirino Ruggeri, Roberto Longhi, Riccardo Francalancia, and Aurelio Saffi.
From 1939 al 1941, he collaborated in the weekly Oggi, whose editor was Arrigo Benedetti till the journal was suppressed by the authorities.