Vladimir Bartol was a writer from the Slovene minority in Italy, best known for his 1938 novel Alamut, which is the most popular work of Slovene literature around the world and has been translated into numerous languages.

Bartol was born on February 24, 1903, in San Giovanni (Slovene: Sveti Ivan), a suburb of the Austro-Hungarian city of Trieste (now in Italy), as the third of seven children in a middle-class Slovene family. His father, Gregor Bartol, was a post office clerk, and his mother, Marica Bartol Nadlišek, was a teacher, renowned editor, and feminist author. His parents provided their children with extensive education. His mother introduced him to painting, and his father to biology.

In his autobiographical short stories, Bartol described himself as an oversensitive and slightly odd child with a rich fantasy life. He was interested in many fields, including biology, philosophy, psychology, art, theatre, and literature.