Giorno Giovanna/History

A detailed chronological summary of the life of Giorno Giovanna.

Background
Haruno Shiobana was born on April 16, 1985 as the son of DIO (fathered using Jonathan Joestar's body) and a Japanese woman. DIO would go on to have three more children with three women from Florida, but Haruno and his mother were never aware of that. Because of this, Haruno never met his half-brothers. Haruno's first years were marked by his mother's neglect. Since she viewed him as a threat to her party life, he would be left alone at night on several occasions, where he would be too scared to even cry.

When he turned four, his mother married an Italian man and they moved to Italy, resulting in Haruno having his name changed to "Giorno Giovanna". His new stepfather, however, would often beat him for always trying to read others when his mother was not around, even though it was that same physical abuse that brought about Giorno's habit. That, coupled with the fact that Giorno easily became the target of bullies, gave him very low self-esteem, to the point of believing himself to be scum and setting him on the path to becoming twisted and immoral.

However, one day as Giorno was walking home, he came upon a man covered in blood lying in a patch of tall grass. After discovering the injured man, other men approached Giorno, asking him if he knew where the man had gone. Giorno lied to them, feeling that the injured man was the same as him, and subconsciously activated his Stand's ability to mask the man's presence by causing the grass to grow taller and bloom flora. Around two months later, the man showed himself to Giorno again and told him that he would never forget what he did for him. Things soon turned brighter for Giorno: his stepfather stopped hitting him and he became popular among kids his own age. It turned out that the man was a gangster who quietly watched over Giorno from the shadows. To Giorno, this was the first time someone else had treated him like a human being and showed him respect. The trust that Giorno should have learned from his father was instead taught to him by others, and ever since then something that can be described as a "cool breeze" blew inside his heart, marking his change from a cold and antisocial individual to a charming and righteous one. He subsequently forges a dream to make the corrupt Italian mafia like the man who had helped him, and strive to become a "Gang-Star".

Vento Aureo
On March 29, 2001, Giorno is 15 years old and operates as a petty thief at the Naples airport. The anime adaptation expands on his day. Giorno is shown helping two tourists find the way to Santa Chiara Church; when a pickpocket steals one of the tourists' wallet, Giorno steals it back and returns it to her. However, he turns two bank notes into butterflies that go to him. With this money, Giorno buys himself a chocolate-pistachio ice cream for him and another boy.

Battle Against Koichi Hirose
Koichi Hirose meets Giorno while he's showing off a trick to the guards of Naples Airport in which he stuffs his entire ear into his ear canal. Giorno amuses the guards and bribes them in order to operate there for the day. Seeing Koichi, Giorno offers him ride as an illegal taxi for 10,000 liras or a mere 500 yen. Koichi is suspicious but sees the long waiting line for legitimate taxis and accepts Giorno's offer. Giorno asks Koichi to put his luggage in the front seat himself and drives away after Koichi obliges. Koichi uses Echoes' 3 Freeze to increase the weight of the tires. Giorno gives Koichi a sly smile and runs away, after using his Stand's power to turn Koichi's luggage into a frog.

Leaky-eye Luca's Encounter
Giorno then has an encounter with Leaky-eye Luca, who demands protection money from him. Giorno claims to not have any, but Luca, who is unconvinced, takes Giorno's wallet and reveals a picture of DIO. Luca becomes increasingly violent while Giorno insists that he has no money. Suddenly the frog born from Koichi's luggage returns and begins climbing up Giorno's pants. Upon seeing the frog, Luca orders him to kill it, but Giorno refuses, claiming it to not have anything to do with their situation. The refusal enrages Luca, who attempts to smash both the frog and Giorno with his shovel, but the side effects of his Stand ability manifest and cause the attack to rebound upon and send him into a coma from severe head trauma. Frustrated by Luca's stupidity, Giorno leaves the scene.

Giorno then spends the money stolen from Koichi but he meets Koichi again in a café. Giorno tries to run away but Koichi uses 3 Freeze on Giorno's hand, forcing him to finally reveal his Stand, Gold Experience. Gold Experience turns the pavement into a tree lifting him from the ground. When Koichi sends Echoes to attack, the weight increase affects Koichi and Giorno compliments Koichi for being merciful enough not to attack with the intent to kill. Nonetheless, Giorno escapes once again.

Battle Against Bruno Bucciarati
Soon, problems arise for Giorno as news of Luca's death spreads, and Bruno Bucciarati visits him on the funicular to interrogate him. Bucciarati reveals that Luca was part of a gang and his Boss sent him to investigate the death and avenge the affront the culprit committed against the boss' reputation. Bucciarati asks Giorno if he saw Luca at the airport and Giorno lies, pretending to have never heard of him. Bucciarati seems satisfied and leaves, but Giorno suddenly finds Luca's eye in his closed fist. Unnerved, Giorno sweats, which allows a returning Bucciarati to lick him and realize that he's lying.

Bucciarati reenters the funicular and the gangster now openly strikes Giorno and causing zippers to appear on his body. After one punch too many, Giorno summons Gold Experience to deflect Bucciarati's strikes and thus outs himself as the culprit. Gold Experience punches Bucciarati in the chest, sending him flying. It is then that Giorno realises that infusing life into living people makes their spirits go haywire, accelerating their thought processes but leaving the body immobile. With Giorno's opponent temporarily defenseless, Gold Experience uses the opportunity to land a solid punch to Bucciarati's face, applying enough strength to break a tooth. Giorno attacks again but Bucciarati fully reveals his own Stand, Sticky Fingers. Sticky Finger blocks Gold Experience's attack but Bucciarati prefers to make a strategic retreat. Opening the walls of the funicular with his zippers, Bucciarati gets out of the funicular. Giorno gives chase as he cannot let the gangster alert his whole gang and turn the affair into an unwinnable battle. Giorno catches up to Bucciarati in an alley but the gangster collides with a group of bystander, hiding in one of them. To find him, Giorno transforms Bucciarati's tooth into a fly, allowing him to track down his target and force him out into the open. The two, knowing that the victor is decided by who makes the first move, meet fists once more in a final clash. Bucciarati baits Giorno into punching only his arm, which he switched out with the arm of the teenager he was hiding in, preventing Gold Experience's life energy from traveling past said arm. Giorno is then attacked by Sticky Fingers and has various body parts unzipped, leaving him disabled and near-defenseless. As Bucciarati moves in to finish his off, Giorno rips his own arm at the zipper in order to get a decisive punch in first, leaving Bucciarati unable to act yet again. Giorno is thus free to approach Bucciarati.

However, instead of attacking Bucciarati, Giorno walks past him and tends to the unconscious teenager. When Bucciarati questions him why, Giorno explains that he had noticed Bucciarati briefly glancing with shame at the drug-injected arm of the teenager during the fight. Giorno correctly deduced that, like Koichi, Bucciarati is a good person, and acknowledges that the gangster won't attack him anymore, something Bucciarati indeed follows through with. The two develop a mutual respect, and Giorno boldly reveals his dream to become a "Gang-Star" who will take over the Neapolitan mafia in order to defend the innocent. Bucciarati, swayed by Giorno's actions and words, agrees to help him infiltrate his organization: the most powerful gang in Naples, Passione.

Polpo's Test
Giorno is directed to a prison where he scheduled meets a lieutenant, or "capo", of Passione known as Polpo. However, Bucciarati warns him that at the first mistake, Bucciarati will not support his infiltration. When Giorno asks if there are other Stand Users in the gang, Bucciarati tells Giorno to find out for himself. Giorno passes through the tight security and is instructed by the guard searching him not to accept anything from Polpo. Giorno thus enters the corridor leading to Polpo's cell instead of going to a visit room.

It is revealed that Polpo is a gigantic and obese man who could pass as a bed. Moreover, Polpo's cell is quite luxurious, complete with a fridge, a collection of firearms, and some paintings. When questioned about what the most important quality in a person is, Giorno initially tells him that it might be talent. However, Polpo claims that it is actually trust that is most important. Polpo, snacking on wine and crackers, appears to actually bite off and eat his own fingers, something that confuses Giorno, before his fingers mysteriously reappear. Polpo gives Giorno a lit lighter and tells him to keep flame from going out for 24 hours in order to join the gang. To do so will prove that Giorno can be trusted with a task even if no one is watching him.

Giorno encounters his first obstacle when trying to leave the prison, as the guards order him to partake in another body check because he was not allowed to accept anything from the prisoner. Initially burning his hand to hide the lighter while being patted down, he uses Gold Experience's ability to transform the lighter into a flower, with the flame hidden in the petal bud, when the prison guard makes him open his hands. The guard ultimately allows Giorno to leave with the unassuming flower. Returning to his middle school and ignoring other students as well as a janitor, Giorno successfully reaches his student dorm. At first, he attempts to keep the lighter in a loaf of bread and surrounds it with books and such, in order to keep it stable and the flame safe from moving air. However, Koichi manages to find Giorno's dorm and attempts to break in in order to get his passport back, forcing Giorno to hide outside the window. In an effort to keep Koichi from discovering and putting out the lighter, he transforms his ceiling light into a snake, which burns itself trying to grab the lighter. Luckily enough, Koichi actually finds his passport, allowing Giorno to swiftly steal the lighter and escape while he was distracted. Walking down a flight of stairs, the janitor from before accidentally splashes the lighter and extinguishes the flame while cleaning the stairs. As Giorno tries to figure out what to do, the janitor relights the lighter for him, causing him to notice the oddity of the test: What is the point of the test if the person being tested could freely extinguish and re-light the lighter without Polpo knowing?

Battle Against Black Sabbath
However, once the lighter is re-lit, Polpo's Stand Black Sabbath appears. It attacks the janitor for having re-lit the lighter, testing him by stabbing his soul with the Arrow. As the janitor was unworthy of possessing a Stand, he perishes without injury. The Stand then turns its attention to Giorno who saw the lighter being re-lit, and he attempts to dodge its grasp. Black Sabbath, grabbing Giorno's shadow, forcibly pulls out Gold Experience and tries to stab it with the Arrow. Gold Experience deeply injures its hand simply grabbing the Arrow, allowing Giorno to conclude that a direct stab is guaranteed to be fatal. Giorno, realizing that Polpo is a person that would kill innocent bystanders, resolves to defeat Black Sabbath. Breaking free of the enemy Stand's grasp by performing a reversal and punching it, Giorno figures out it can travel quickly within shadows. Koichi enters the scene, claiming that he saw the lighter being re-lit as well. This causes Black Sabbath to target him instead. To save Koichi, Giorno has Gold Experience catch the Arrow tip with his hand. He then turns the railing into morning glories which hang, eliminating the shade and forcing Black Sabbath to retreat.

Koichi is still furious and and doesn't understand why a mere thief would help him. However, Giorno confesses his shame at letting the old janitor die, which convinces Koichi that Giorno is more righteous than at first glance. Koichi then agrees to cooperate with him. Giorno tries to move to an area with more sunlight, but Black Sabbath uses the shadows of a bird to move to the shadow of a tree, and proceeds to get a tight grip on Giorno's ankles. When Koichi uses 3 Freeze on Black Sabbath, it results in Giorno's ankles nearly breaking. Before he could have Echoes cancel the effect, Giorno tells Koichi that his ability is actually just what he needed; with Black Sabbath trapped, Gold Experience proceeds to accelerate the life of the tree whose shadow was housing the Stand, causing it to wither and crumble. With no shadow to keep it safe from sunlight, Black Sabbath is weakened and Gold Experience is free to pummel it into oblivion. The next day, Giorno meets Polpo again, who accepts him within Passione, hoping to use Giorno as another tool. However, in retaliation for Polpo killing the janitor and "insulting his life", Giorno transforms one of his guns into a banana, leading to Polpo shooting himself when he tries to eat it. Giorno avoids any suspicion as he was absent at the time.

Joining Team Bucciarati
Giorno then becomes the newest member of Team Bucciarati, composed of five members including Bucciarati himself. When brought to meet the rest of the members in a restaurant, Giorno introduces himself but is coldly ignored by the others. Leone Abbacchio then tries to haze the new guy. Giorno is pressured into drinking a cup of "tea" which is actually Abbacchio's urine; the group see him hesitate and begin to mock him. However, Giorno earns the team's proper attention and awe by seemingly drinking the whole cup at once, having discreetly turned one of his teeth into jellyfish made of 98% water to absorb all of the liquid. When they ask him what he did, Giorno smugly points out that everyone in this room are keeping there abilities a secret.

Mario Zucchero's Ambush
With Polpo's death, his position as a Passione capo becomes available. Bucciarati takes his team on a boat trip to to retrieve Polpo's hidden fortune of 6 billion yen as a way to earn the rank of capo. Suddenly, Narancia Ghirga disappears, as well as Guido Mista and Pannacotta Fugo soon after. An enemy is present on the boat but the team doesn't know where he's hiding. Although Giorno turns Narancia's shoe into a fly, the insect seems to only have a vague idea of Narancia's position. Bucciarati mentions that Leone Abbacchio's Stand is ideal to investigate the matter but Abbacchio doesn't trust Giorno enough to show him his ability. Before the distrustful Abbacchio, Giorno allows himself to be attacked and captured by the enemy Stand in order to both help him reveal its ability and convince him to reveal his own Stand, Moody Blues. A fly transformed from Narancia Ghirga's shoe by Gold Experience enables Abbacchio and Bucciarati to track the captured members and figure out the secret behind the enemy Stand. Mario Zucchero, a fellow Passione gangster, is uncovered and swiftly defeated by Bucciarati.

Intercepting Sale
Upon discovering that their rival gangster has a partner who ran ahead to Capri Island, Giorno proposes that some of them preemptively go to Capri and take care of the problem. He and Guido Mista go ahead of the rest on an inner-tube-turned-fish to clear the way. On the coast, Giorno watches the marina and meets with Mista's quirky Sex Pistols having lunch. Giorno and Mista proceed to draw out the enemy. Giorno calls the marina's radio station to publicly ask for Zucchero's partner while Mista hides in ambush. When Zucchero's partner Sale suddenly answers the radio, Giorno tries to signal Mista. However, Mista mistake Giorno's movements for a signal to reveal himself and Sale sees Mista through the radio room's window. Forced to act, Giorno shouts through the radio to warn Mista, and succeeds. Mista chases after Sale, leaving Giorno behind. When a truck arrives behind the radio room, Giorno orders the driver to go up the island to follow Mista. Ironically, Mista has defeated Sale and had just left the truck.

Protecting Trish Una
After Sale's defeat, the group encounters another capo named Pericolo, who has come at Bucciarati's request to take the money and subsequently raise Bucciarati to lieutenant rank. They then receive their first mission: to protect Trish Una, the daughter of Passione's boss, from the traitors seeking to capture her in hopes of getting information on the Boss and using her as leverage against him.

La Squadra Esecuzioni
Giorno's group must now bodyguard Trish Una until the traitors are killed. Thus they hide in a vineyard house and Narancia is tasked with buying supplies. However, not one day after, Narancia is attacked by Formaggio, a member of the traitorous assassination squad La Squadra Esecuzioni that seeks Trish's capture. While Narancia manages to kill Formaggio, the group's hideout is now sure to be discovered after the havoc Narancia caused during his fight. When Fugo blames Narancia for his carelessness, Giorno defends him and states that Narancia did the best possible work under the circumstances. Giorno is confident that the Boss will contact them and assign them new orders and is proven right.

Battle Against Illuso
Team Bucciarati is told via computer that they have to retrieve a key in Pompeii in order to secure an unknown mode of transportation that is supposed to be safe. Suddenly, Pannacotta Fugo warns the group about an incoming enemy he sees behind a pillar but Giorno and Abbacchio don't see anything. Fugo abruptly disappears afterwards.

As Fugo mentioned the mirror, Giorno inspects it but his inspection is interrupted when Fugo's Stand Purple Haze. The Stand, which is explained by Abbacchio to be extremely dangerous due to its flesh-eating virus ability, seemingly goes berserk and breaks the mirror and the ruins around him. Giorno understands that somehow, Fugo is still trying to fight an invisible enemy. Although Abbacchio decides to abandon Fugo to retrieve the key but Giorno objects. Furious, Abbacchio leaves him to but is soon attacked by Illuso, one of the rogue hitmen.

After a brief struggle, Abbacchio is defeated by Illuso's Man in the Mirror but uses Moody Blues to bring the key back to Giorno. Illuso attacks Giorno but the teen reveals that he's infected himself with the killer virus of Fugo's Stand Purple Haze, and leaves himself open to Illuso in order to spread it to him. Fearing for his life, Illuso leaves the mirror world. However, Giorno also has created a snake to track Illuso's movements and location, allowing Fugo to properly corner the enemy with Purple Haze and kill him without needing to see him. Despite Fugo's insistence that Purple Haze's virus will inevitably kill him, Giorno saves himself by extracting the antibodies the snake must have created since it was born in an environment rich in Purple Haze's virus. Fugo is left astonished by how Giorno's actions always lead to success, and openly salutes him.

Engraved on the key are the Boss's next orders: Bucciarati must now to go to the Naples train station then hitch a train ride to Venice. The gang finds the turtle Coco Jumbo, which can act as a shelter and hiding spot for everyone due to its Stand Mr.President.

Prosciutto and Pesci's Attack
Inside the train, Team Bucciarati is attacked by the next two Hitman Team members: Pesci and Prosciutto. Everyone suddenly grows old. Before succumbing to the forced aging, Giorno still manages to work out how Prosciutto's The Grateful Dead ages people proportionally to their body temperature. Mista and Bucciarati would then use that knowledge to defeat both Prosciutto and Pesci. During the fight, Giorno and his aged companions are almost killed by Pesci but Bucciarati fortunately saves them. However, during the battle, Pesci stops the train after killing the drivers, and the gang is now immobilized.

Battle Against Baby Face
Still having to go to Venice, Team Bucciarati first tries to hitch a ride in a truck. However, Sex Pistols steal the driver's sandwich, causing the driver to investigate under the seat and discover the turtle. Out of desperation, Mista knocks out the driver, leaving the gang to have to change their plan again.

Giorno suggests that the group steals a car. Stuck in a parking lot, they argue about the safety of stealing a car as it will bring attention to their vehicle. However, Giorno impresses everyone a second time by using his power to change a large number of cars into masses of frogs and give the illusion that many cars were stolen so the car that the gang actually takes will be harder to track.

Meanwhile, another assassin, Melone, used his Stand Baby Face to track Bucciarati and neutralize both him and Trish inside the turtle. The autonomous Stand, blocked by Giorno, is ordered to kill him. Giorno sends Gold Experience inside to investigate the room and Baby Face, disguised as a drawer, steals a piece of Gold Experience's throat. Giorno is choking and unable to call for help. When Gold Experience tries to stomp the enemy, it then steals his right eye. Giorno takes out the key from Coco Jumbo's back to force the enemy Stand out and witnesses how it can turn itself into cubes, as well as reconstitute itself into different materials. Giorno tries to climb a low wall and reach his teammates as he suffocates, but Baby Face steals another piece of his throat, leaving him helpless. However, it is then that Giorno, seconds away from death, is finally able to learn of Gold Experience's capacity to mend injuries by converting objects into the needed flesh and bones, using it to save himself. This newfound ability gives him the upper hand against Baby Face, and he assaults the Stand before it can escape with the turtle. Baby Face disguises itself as Giorno's shadow and ambushes him, but Giorno turns a hand of his that was previously cut off by the enemy's ability into a piranha, which eats its way through Baby Face. Baby Face retaliates by attacking Giorno's reattached hand once more. However, the hand was never meant to stay attached, as Giorno created it out of the entirety of Melone's motorcycle for the sole purpose of letting Baby Face attack it, creating a successful trap. Giorno is able to win against it without the help of the others by trapping the Stand inside of the motorcycle and blowing it up. Afterward, Giorno sends a lethally venomous snake made out of Baby Face's corpse back to Melone, who is bitten.

Battle Against Ghiaccio
Bucciarati receives new orders from the Boss, telling him to retrieve an unknown item in Venice. Giorno and Mista are assigned to get it by car while the rest of the group will enter Venice by boat. However, the assassin Ghiaccio attacks both of them and a race toward the item begins. Unfortunately, Ghiaccio's ice Stand White Album is practically immune to Gold Experience and Sex Pistols, preventing the creation of life with its cold and using ice armor to stop bullets, respectively. Making the mistake of underestimating Ghiaccio, Giorno is imprisoned by ice while their car swerves off the road and into the sea, and despairs to survive this encounter. Yet Mista conceives a plan to escape. Mista tells Giorno to create herbs out of the still hot car engine and makes a board of frozen tundra glass. By sliding away, Mista forces to Ghiaccio to cancel the ice trapping Giorno and focus on the gunman. Mista also realizes that Ghiaccio's armor must have a weakness and discovers an air hole on Ghiaccio's neck.

In the ensuing shootout, Mista is still overpowered by Ghiaccio's new ability Gently Weeps, and Giorno notices that Mista has resolved to give his own life for the sake of the mission; a "will of self-sacrifice" that goes against Giorno's idea of what "resolve" is. He calls out to him, telling him that resolve is to "carve out one's destined path through the darkness", before grievously damaging his own arm and flinging the blood at Ghiaccio, creating floating crystals that allow Mista to see his target clearly. Mista thanks Giorno for his ever-present guidance before having one last bout with Ghiaccio and sending his neck onto a splintered lamppost. Although Ghiaccio continues to live, him undoing his ability unintentionally sets Giorno free. Giorno saves Mista when he is shot in the head and heals him, praising his resolve. He then finishes Ghiaccio off by having Gold Experience rapidly kick him until his neck is completely impaled. In the aftermath, Mista admits how grateful he is to Giorno and his actions, though Giorno merely points out how painful his Stand's healing process will be. Giorno crudely turns the bullets embedded in Mista's body into body parts.

Betraying the Boss
The two retrieve a disk which contains the Boss's last orders and are ordered to bring Trish to the San Giorgio Maggiore basilisk. Eager to approach the Boss, Giorno volunteers to bring Trish to the top of the basilisk but Bucciarati is nominated instead. However, Bucciarati asks Giorno for his "lucky brooch", which Giorno gives life to to make it into a makeshift bug.

Unexpectedly, the Boss actually wanted to kill Trish, and Bucciarati openly revolts and pursues the Boss to the dark crypt of the church. Meanwhile, Giorno worriedly awaits for the results of Bucciarati's efforts. He then realises that time has moved forward without anyone really noticing the missing timeframes and understand that something is wrong. When Bucciarati contacts him, Giorno does his best to help. He warns Bucciarati about the Boss's ability to no avail, and unexpectedly saves Trish by temporarily imprisoning the Boss as his brooch fully turns into a clone of Coco Jumbo. Bucciarati apparently succumbs to his injuries when Giorno reaches him in the church, resulting in him trying to shake Bucciarati awake after mending his injuries. Shortly after, Giorno hears Bucciarati's voice call out to him from behind before Bucciarati wakes up. Giorno manages to warn the rest of the team, dissuading the Boss from coming out and killing them as he would be visible.

Back to the pier, the two officially announce to the rest of the group that they rebelled against the Boss, seeking to overthrow him. Although most are scared of this new development, everyone but Fugo follows Bucciarati for their own reasons. Giorno notices that Bucciarati does not react to pain, does not bleed as much, and that he is abnormally cold to the touch.

Squalo and Tiziano's Attack
Still in Venice, Team Bucciarati debates what to do. Trish eventually informs them that the Boss met her mother on the island of Sardinia, giving the group a solid lead. At the same time, Passione operatives Tiziano and Squalo stealthily attack the group. Narancia's tongue is torn off by an unseen Stand. Thankfully, Giorno prevents Narancia from choking due to gag reflex by piercing his trachea with a pen, and replaces his tongue. Narancia is forced to constantly lie because of Tiziano's Talking Head, but Giorno soon becomes the first and only one to suspect that they are under attack. However, Giorno is standing on a puddle from which the shark-like Clash jumps and bites at his throat, dragging Giorno with him. Giorno purposefully lets himself get shot by Aerosmith so that Narancia can track the fumes and corner Clash. However, Tiziano's quick thinking turns the situation around. Giorno manages to counsel Narancia to go after the Stand users and gives him a spare tongue to counter the effects of Talking Head. Narancia manages to kill both by tricking them with the spare tongue into believing that he was lying about finding them. Thankfully, Giorno is still alive. Narancia internally praises Giorno and believes him to be the reason why the gang might win against the Boss.

Notorious B.I.G's Attack
With the defeat of Squalo and Tiziano, the group decides to use the chance they have and leave Venice by plane. However, while attempting to steal a jet from a nearby army airport, they are confronted by a mysterious man, Carne. Mista ends up killing Carne with ease after several warnings to back away, but Giorno is left somewhat suspicious.

In the plane, Giorno's suspicions grow when he discovers the chewed fingers of Carne in the fridge. Even if Bucciarati throws the fridge out of the plane, the Stand Notorious B.I.G appears from Giorno's arm and attacks the group. Having no host as therefore unable to be killed, the Stand proves invulnerable, severely wounding both Narancia and Mista by consuming much of their Stands. Ultimately, Notorious B.I.G forces Giorno to sacrifice both of his hands trying to remove it from the plane. The gang retreats to safety in the pilot's cabin, but without his hands, Giorno can no longer heal anyone, including himself.

Trish discovers one of his outfit's brooches slowly turning into a hand; an action done by Giorno as a precaution for the loss of both his hands. Unfortunately, Notorious B.I.G manages to catch up to the plane, but Trish awakens her Stand Spice Girl when she becomes determined to make sure that the replacement hand stays safe. Ultimately Trish manages to bring Giorno his hand and destroys the plane, plunging Notorious B.I.G into the sea.

Sardinia
In Sardinia, Team Bucciarati investigate the Boss's past. Abbacchio uses his Moody Blues to rewind events to when the Boss took a photo of Trish's mother, while the rest of the group are attracted by strange happenings occurring some distance away (the Boss's subordinate Vinegar Doppio in a battle with the very leader of la Squadra, Risotto Nero). They find an injured boy with his mouth stitched shut and clothes stolen, and Bucciarati realizes too late that they made the terrible mistake of leaving Abbacchio vulnerable, where he is killed by the Boss. Narancia desperately begs Giorno to heal him, though Giorno grievously remarks that Abbacchio's death was too sudden for him to be saved. Despite Bucciarati ordering the group away from the body, Giorno discovers that Abbacchio rewinded far enough in time to successfully expose a negative of the Boss's face and fingerprints.

A Mysterious Ally
While their attempts to investigate the police databases with the mold is fruitless, Team Bucciarati is noticed by a third party who reveals the Boss's name, Diavolo and his Stand, King Crimson's ability to erase time. Showing them the Arrow to gain their trust, the unknown individual promises them a power able to defeat King Crimson when they meet in Rome. While they depart, the Boss sees their determination and suspects that he hasn't won yet, then pursues them to Rome.

Battle Against Cioccolata and Secco
Upon arriving at the coasts of Italy, the group is attacked by a Stand which causes explosive flesh-eating mold growth. Moreover, another Stand user able to swim through solid concrete attacks them as well. The duo Cioccolata and Secco try to kill Team Bucciarati on the coast but Giorno, managing to deduce how Cioccolata's power functions, enables the whole group to escape their attack long enough to steal a car and drive away. On the way to Rome, Bucciarati reveals that he's been dead since the first encounter with Diavolo, that he was only able to continue when Gold Experience gave his body life, and that his time was running out as his senses began to dull and his body deteriorate.

Suddenly, a molded corpse falls on the car's windshield. As the slope is now going down, the team has to evacuate the car and they see that Cioccolata and Secco are in a helicopter. The enemy has followed them to Rome where Cioccolata's Green Day will cause many more deaths. Mista is initially unable to hit the helicopter, but Giorno assists him and makes the next round of bullets turn into branching vines that ensnare the helicopter. Giorno and Mista split from Bucciarati to fight Cioccolata, getting to the roof of the building the helicopter was caught. Sex Pistols, and by extension Mista himself, are mysteriously incapacitated with the exception of No.5 when fired into the helicopter, and Giorno decides to approach Cioccolata alone, seeing the widespread death and chaos caused by the mad doctor.

Giorno creates a tree inside of the helicopter but detects nothing. When he enters the helicopter, it is revealed that Cioccolata has dismembered his own body and this move allows the mad doctor to heavily wound Giorno and send him flying. Giorno is sent falling off the building, only to use a bullet brought by No.5 to catch himself by creating a branch to hang onto. Cioccolata tries to make Giorno fall once more by tilting the helicopter but inadvertently causes the branch to revert into a bullet, which comes in contact with the rotating propellers and repelled into his head, seemingly killing him. Giorno tells Cioccolata that he will spare him if he does not move when he approaches him, and the doctor reveals himself alive and attempts to kill Mista. A beetle begins eating away at the doctor's brain as Giorno reveals that he was only talking to buy time for the bullet to transform, and that he actually lied to Cioccolata about sparing him so that the beetle would have the time to be completed. Gold Experience finishes Cioccolata off with a lengthy barrage of punches, sending the various body parts into a trash compactor as Giorno attends to Mista.

Chariot Requiem Unleashed
Bucciarati also manages to kill Secco, but as the group was split, Vinegar Doppio is able to approach their contact first. Jean Pierre Polnareff, who had been working against Diavolo for many years, confronts the Boss. Giorno realizes that time is being erased and warns Mista and Trish. Polnareff is quickly overpowered by Diavolo and fatally injured, left with no choice but to use the Arrow on his Silver Chariot. Chariot Requiem awakens out of Polnareff's Stand and makes everyone in Rome fall asleep, then switches their souls. Great confusion arises as Giorno finds himself in Narancia's body, and Diavolo's is now inhabited by Bucciarati's soul. Bucciarati orders Mista to disable whoever is in his unconscious body, which he follows through with, unwittingly killing Doppio as a result.

However, Narancia is brutally impaled on broken iron bars momentarily afterward, and everyone notices that time has been erased once again. Giorno is the first to realize that Diavolo and King Crimson were not the ones in Bucciarati's body. Pushing everyone out of the way to get to Narancia, Giorno realizes that like Abbacchio, he died instantly, and that all he can do is return to his own body. Before returning to the problem of Chariot Requiem, Giorno mourns Narancia's death and covers his body with flora. Promising Narancia that he won't let anybody hurt him anymore, and to take him home, Giorno becomes more determined than ever to seize the Arrow and bring the boss of Passione down.

The group moves towards Requiem and finds out that it is oblivious to those that do not attempt to take the Arrow from it. Bucciarati trips it, causing it to drop the Arrow. Giorno reaches for it, only for Gold Experience's hand to press against his as it peers out of a crack in the ground. He then tosses a rock at the Arrow and is nearly hit by the same rock in the back of his head. It is then Giorno is convinced that Requiem will not allow anything to come in contact with the Arrow, using the very Stands of its offenders to guard it. However, this does not prove true for Polnareff, whom no longer has control of his own Stand. Upon taking the Arrow in his mouth, Requiem gets up and attacks him, even after he drops it. When Mista attempts to shoot Requiem and slow it down, his revolver breaks, seemingly from metal fatigue, and he switches it out with a pistol from a nearby police officer. This catches Giorno's eye as he begins to sense something else at work. Requiem, just as quickly as it began to attack Polnareff, ceases, takes the Arrow, and begins walking away once more. This leaves the group in confusion, but Polnareff tells everyone that they are slowly turning into something unknown; Requiem's true ability has just begun.

The Battle For the Arrow
Before the group continues after Chariot Requiem, Giorno orders everyone to stop. Pulling out Mista's broken revolver, he analyzes it and sees that it was not metal fatigue that caused it to break: it was actively broken by something strong enough to bend and twist metal. He figures out that Diavolo is not only close by, but he is also possessing one of them and hiding within their bodies in order to sabotage them. Giorno reminds everyone of his ability to sense the amount of life energy in something, claiming it would be able to tell if there is an extra soul in one of their bodies, but King Crimson's notoriously lethal strength would risk someone getting killed in an instant if Giorno entered its range of five meters. Nonetheless, Giorno accepts the risk and proceeds to approach his teammates. He tries to start with Mista in Trish's body, but Mista is too paranoid to let Giorno, whom could be possessed himself, to get near him, threatening to shoot. Deciding that it would waste time trying to convince Mista otherwise, Giorno moves onto Bucciarati in Diavolo's body. Before moving, Giorno bites his own index finger and holds it over his hand to let the blood drip; an ability he learned from Polnareff to check to see when time has been erased. When he approaches, he and Bucciarati instantly figure out the time has been erased when the amount of blood drops suddenly increases. King Crimson lashes out at Giorno from behind, severing his arm and punching him in the head. Diavolo takes complete possession of Trish in Mista's body, and sprints for Requiem, dodging all of Mista's attacks with his time erasure. He figures out Requiem's weakness and nearly destroys it, taking the Arrow for himself. However, Giorno made sure to splatter his blood on King Crimson when his arm was severed and transforms the drops into a swarm of ants that chew at and break off the Arrow's head to take to their creator.

This forces a scuffle between Diavolo versus Mista and a weakened Trish, using their Stands to try to take the Arrow. Furious at her very existence, Diavolo punches Trish's Spice Girl to make a desperate leap towards the Arrow by flinging Mista's body at it using the force of the punch. In a last ditch effort, Bucciarati destroys the remains of Chariot Requiem to return everyone to their bodies, both saving Trish and ripping Diavolo's soul and King Crimson away from the Arrow, at the cost of his own life. Bucciarati thanks Giorno for "bringing him back to life", not just literally, but by restoring the dying faith in his heart during their first meeting, and ascends to Heaven guided by angels. When the dust settles, the Arrow has landed in Giorno's hands. Taking it for himself with newfound resolve, he pierces Gold Experience with it. Diavolo, freshly returned to his own body, realizes what is happening and does not waste any time moving in to kill Giorno, punching Gold Experience with enough strength to shatter its head. However, a new Stand peers from underneath, and a second attack by King Crimson frees it.

Gold Experience Requiem
Giorno stands boldly with his very own Requiem Stand: Gold Experience Requiem. Diavolo confidently erases time and moves in to finish Giorno off after a brief demonstration of Gold Experience Requiem's stronger life-giving ability, simply believing that the Stand had been given a mere enhancement. However, Requiem reveals its true ability to return anything to zero, effectively nullifying any action or process it desires and preventing them from being realized, including King Crimson's time erasure. After Gold Experience Requiem finally destroys King Crimson and pummels Diavolo into the nearby waters, Mista and Trish express an urgent need to find Diavolo. Giorno, however, remains confident that Diavolo is finished, having felt the reassurance of Requiem's power without fully understanding it. Swearing to protect the Arrow that his friends gave their lives for, Giorno eventually takes the lead of Passione as a group of dignified men stands before him.

Purple Haze Feedback
A bonus chapter reveals the immediate aftermath of the team's battle in Rome. Mista and Trish are distraught that Bucciarati is dead. Giorno reveals how he had cooperated with Bucciarati to overthrow the Boss and is held at gunpoint by a furious Mista who understands that Giorno is responsible for Bucciarati getting himself killed. Giorno calmly persuades Mista that he wouldn't want to kill a fourth member of Team Bucciarati considering his obsession. Mista decides not to kill Giorno, on the condition that Giorno still acts as a member of Team Bucciarati. Giorno then approaches Bucciarati's corpse and promises on Bucciarati's soul that there won't be any more lies. Giorno tells Trish that this is as far as she'll go with the gang.

After defeating Diavolo, Giorno reveals himself as the Boss, claiming that he doesn't want traitors to endanger the boss' daughter in an attempt to find his identity. Attracting the attention of the Speedwagon Foundation, Giorno accepts to cooperate with them and, as a gesture of good will, agrees to destroy a Stone Mask. At the same time, Giorno enlists the returning Fugo to help kill Passione's Sezione Droghe alongside operatives Sheila E and Cannolo Murolo. The three manage to fulfill all their objectives.

Giorno meets with Fugo shortly after the latter's defeat of Massimo Volpe, healing his injuries with Gold Experience. Giorno talks to Fugo about the personal progress which he had made and his reasons for sending Fugo off to stop the Sezione Droghe. Fugo deems himself unworthy of Giorno's respect, believing that Bucciarati should be in his place. However, Giorno comforts his crying friend, telling him that he will take on his sorrow. This action leads to Fugo finally accepting Giorno's honor, referring to him as "GioGio".

Stone Ocean (2012)
Giorno's half-brothers, Donatello, Ungalo and Rikiel, are featured in the narrative as antagonists, working with Enrico Pucci.

While Pucci's actions attracted Giorno's half-brothers to Florida, Giorno was nowhere to be seen despite having DIO's blood in him. On the page containing Rikiel's privilege card, it hints that Giorno may be in Florida after all, though the reason he wasn't drawn to the priest is unknown (If he were to have made an appearance, he would have been ~26 years old).

JORGE JOESTAR
In the light novel JORGE JOESTAR, an incarnation of Giorno lives in an unknown universe. He has the Joestar birthmark because he is the son of a version of who stole Jonathan Joestar's body. Based on Giorno's comment to Dio and Antonio Torres' remark to, it is suggested that he is the original universe's Giorno, but it is not clear.

Like his original universe counterpart, he wields Gold Experience and Gold Experience Requiem. However, he creates an alternate personality which is. Giorno pretends to be a hero while he pushes all his bad deeds onto his Diavolo persona. With his Gold Experience Requiem, he cancels his own death and ends up in the 37th universe, where he takes over Passione in Nero Nero Island.

Background
Giorno receives orders from Dio and starts working for him at some point. He relays Dio's orders to Antonio Torres. Antonio kills Nekoneko Nyan Nyan Nyan, Sachiari Hakkyoku, and Tsukumojuku Kato, who are three Japanese detectives. Giorno helps Antonio disguise the murder scenes to resemble Japanese folktales in order to remove suspicion that it was done by a foreigner. When Diavolo is mysteriously killed in Arrow Cross House, Giorno manages to swap his soul into the hollowed out skin of Antonio and disguises himself to look the same. He orders the others in Passione to help him track down Diavolo, as a way for him to lure his killer.

2012
Giorno orders the members of Passione to kidnap the citizens of Morioh so they could find every Stand user. Afterwards, he orders to summon detectives Jorge Joestar, Daibakusho Curry, and Runbaba 12 to the Budogaoka Academy Garden. He calls Jorge on a pebble phone and tells him that he wants to hire him as a detective, but Jorge refuses to accept unless the man states his name. He obliges, revealing that his name is Haruno Shiobana, but he usually goes by Giorno Giovanna. Giorno asks Jorge to look for Diavolo. For their mission, Bucciarati will be the leader, Giorno is in charge of communications, and the other three members will each individually accompany the three detectives.

After Jorge ends up in space, he calls Giorno to relay the situation. Giorno informs him that there is an expected bombing on Nero Nero Island and Morioh after an American had crashed on Morioh, resulting with the residents clashing with the Navy. Meanwhile, reports have been going around that terrorists had invaded the islands to easily spread a weaponized virus that causes people to become berserk around the world.

The Passione members discover the dead bodies of Diavolo and in the study of the Arrow Cross House, where they had somehow been lying for at least twelve hours, despite Jorge and  having been in and out of that room all day.

Soon, Giorno finds the original universe George Joestar's body lying in Morioh, after he is teleported there by Tsukumojuku Kato. Giorno brings him back to Arrow Cross House, healing all of his severe wounds and fractures. He has watch over George until he wakes up. Once Jorge wakes up, Doppio calls him and reports that George is still feeling a lot of pain. Giorno arrives, apologizing for the manners of his men after Doppio and make a bad first impression on George. Giorno introduces himself and explains what Stands are, revealing that Rohan also made it so George could see Stands. Giorno and Rohan explain how they learned George's history by reading everything about him, and decided that he is the best man to solve the mystery of Diavolo and Kira's deaths. Although George desires to go back home, Giorno has no intention of letting anyone leave Arrow Cross House until the mystery is solved.

George explains his final deductions to everyone. lured Kira and Diavolo to Arrow Cross House after setting the two against each other. As time looped, Pucci sped up time and compressed it until neither of them could move at all, then slit their throats. Giorno unsuccessfully tries to conceal his surprise, making George suspicious. After George asks Bucciarati if his boss is lying, Bucciarati notices the scent of a lie coming from Giorno. Giorno tells him that he's imagining it, infuriating Bucciarati. Giorno denies all of the accusations but Bucciarati doesn't believe him.

Bucciarati begins stitching Giorno's mouth closed with his Stand Stepmom until Giorno yells out that he isn't lying, but he was the one that was lied to. Meanwhile, NYPD Blue and notice that Diavolo's pages from Heaven's Door were not in order; his body only had odd pages, meaning that Diavolo had an alternate personality and someone else had the even pages. Giorno says that he was betrayed by God, causing Bucciarati to punch him in the face. Giorno begins crying, but the tears and blood dry in an instant.

Rohan discloses that he used Heaven's Door on everybody except Giorno who could already speak Japanese and Italian, and Doppio, since he arrived late. Pucci arrives, stating that Giorno shouldn't blame God for abandoning him. Giorno smiles, revealing that manipulating Pucci was all part of his father's plan and now the priest no longer has any use to him. Flustered, Pucci tells Giorno to shut up and rapidly speeds up time, threatening to slaughter all of Giorno's men. Giorno points to a rhinoceros beetle flying in the air, turning it back into a Stand Arrow with his Gold Experience. He had turned 's Arrow into a living being to prevent the flow of time from damaging it.

Giorno then explains that there are actually three more Arrows since the house has three arrows outside, causing Reimi to violently eject the remaining ones out of her as well. Giorno laughs about these Arrows being the real four 'Rhinoceros Beetles'. With the Arrow in his hand, he evolves his Stand into Gold Experience Requiem. His evolved Stand immediately sends Pucci to a world where he'll wander for eternity with all his desires and actions being in vain.

With Giorno off guard, Rohan uses Heaven's Door on him. They verify that his body has the even numbered pages, but all of the pages also said the word "death". Giorno quickly heals Diavolo's corpse, which is his original body, and moves his soul back over to it. Since Antonio was now discovered, Giorno cancels the effect of Gold Experience and Antonio reverts back into being empty skin. Now having the appearance of Diavolo, Giorno reveals his betrayal, claiming to be the boss of Antonio. Everyone attempts to attack him but they are all defeated, unable to prevent Giorno from grabbing George and then jumping into Cube House.

Cube House
As Diavolo, Giorno time travels to a ship in the original universe, one hundred years after Dio sank underwater in his coffin. He wakes his father up from the coffin, who then immediately drinks his blood, kicks him down, and uses the Cube House effect still on his body to time travel together. Dio eventually returns to the ship with Diavolo unconscious. Dio is about to kill George but George believes in his Beyond, reverting Diavolo back into his Giorno persona.

Already predicting what Giorno would do, The World grabs Gold Experience Requiem by the throat before it could touch Dio. Giorno declares that he doesn't mind being killed, but he wants to get Dio's soul to become a double of him. Dio verifies that this Giorno has the Joestar birthmark and then thrusts his sword through Giorno's heart without hesitation. Dio then sticks his hand into his chest and tears out half of his soul, shoving it into Giorno's corpse to transform his body into a duplicate of himself. He then picks up the duplicate Dio, throws him into the coffin, and closes the lid. George notices a dying message left behind by Giorno in hiragana, stating "Courage" (ゆうき). Giorno had sacrificed himself for George and wanted George to have courage to save everyone with his Beyond.

DIO
The events of Stardust Crusaders occur after Giorno's coffin is opened by sailors. As 'DIO', he is killed by in Egypt. The real Dio travels here with the Cube House effect on George to retrieve his Stand again after DIO's death.