He was born in Palermo on 20 May 1821. When his father, Sicilian Finance Director, died, he inherited a large fortune, which he decided to dedicate in part to trade, becoming one of the first to introduce the use of steam machines for the husking of sumac. The great repression that followed the riots of '37 pushed him towards a liberal orientation; he had in friendship liberals like Mariano Stabile and Salvatore Vigo, who sometimes helped him in his agricultural entrepreneurship. In 1848, he participated in the Sicilian Revolution that broke out on 12 January: Carini was among the members of the First Committee.