Giorno Giovanna/History

History
Haruno Shiobana was the son of DIO (fathered using Jonathan Joestar´s body) and a Japanese woman. His first years were marked by his mother's neglect, as she left her home often due to his existence threatening her party life, forcing Haruno to be left alone at night to fear the dark, too scared to even cry. When he turned four, his mother married an Italian man and they moved to Italy, resulting in Haruno changing his name 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 and street gangsters, gave him very low self-esteem, to the point of believing himself to be scum and set 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 the men, 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 had been done for him. Things soon turned brighter for Giorno: his father stopped beating 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 he no longer had the scared look in his eyes. He subsequently forges a dream to become a "cool gangster" like the man who had helped him.

Joining Passione
In March 29 2001, Giorno is 15 years old and operates as a petty thief at the Naples airport. Koichi Hirose meets Giorno showing off his famous trick in which he stuffs his entire ear into his ear canal. Giorno offers Koichi a ride as an illegal taxi, but in fact steals his luggage and drives away. Koichi uses Echoes's 3 Freeze to increase the weight of the tires. Giorno gives Koichi a sly smile and runs away, after using his Stand ability to turn Koichi's luggage into a frog.

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, mutated 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. The refusal enrages Luca, who attempts smash both the frog and Giorno with his shovel against Giorno's suggestions, 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.

Giorno then spends the money stolen from Koichi, but the two meet again. Koichi makes the first move and uses 3 Freeze on Giorno's hand, forcing him to finally reveal his Stand, Gold Experience, and escape a second time. Soon, problems arise for Giorno as news of Luca's death spreads, and Bruno Bucciarati visits him on the funicular to interrogate him. Bucciarati's interrogation eventually turns violent, forcing Giorno to openly fight. For the first time, Giorno uses Gold Experience's live-giving ability offensively, resulting in him gaining the upper hand. This forces Bucciarati to try and flee, making Giorno give chase as the gangsters escape would mark him an assassination target. Finally catching Bucciarati, they meet fists once more, with Giorno injuring his own arm to allow a decisive punch to his opponent. However, he doesn't deal the finishing blow as he senses that Bucciarati is a good man, figured out when he temporarily shows disappointment at the drug-injected arm of a young teenager during the fight. Giorno acknowledges that the gangster won't attack him anymore, something Bucciarati indeed follows through with, and both develop a mutual respect. Giorno boldly reveals his dream to become a "Gang-Star" who will take over the Neapolitan mafia in order to defend the innocent, and Bruno agrees to help him infiltrate the most powerful gang in Naples, Passione.

Giorno meets a lieutenant, or "capo", of Passione known as Polpo in prison, who gives him a lighter and tells him to keep it lit for 24 hours in order to join the gang. Giorno manages to sneak the lighter out of prison, go to his student room, and avoid Koichi while keeping his lighter lit, but a janitor accidentally splashes the lighter and extinguishes it. As Giorno tries to figure out what to do, the janitor relights the lighter for him and Polpo's Stand Black Sabbath appears. It attacks the janitor for having re-lit the lighter, ultimately killing him by stabbing his spirit with the Arrow. The Stand then turns its attention to Giorno, who fights back with Gold Experience. Giorno figures out its weakness to sunlight, and proceeds to take various measures and strategies to bring the Stand out into the sun, before Koichi once again becomes involved. Thanks to Koichi's help and counsel, Giorno manages to destroy Black Sabbath, nearly having his own ankles broken in the process. 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 a gun into a banana, leading to Polpo killing himself when he tries to eat it.

Giorno then becomes the newest member of Bucciarati's Gang of five. When brought to meet the rest of the members, he is pressured into drinking a cup of "tea" heavily mixed with Leone Abbacchio's urine. He earns their acceptance by doing so, having turned his teeth into jellyfish made of 98% water which absorbed all of the water molecules.

Polpo's Treasure
After Polpo's death, the seat of Passione lieutenant becomes available. Bucciarati takes the group on a boat to Capri Island to retrieve Polpo's hidden fortune of 6 billion yen in order to court the Passione higher-ups and get Polpo's position. During the trip, the group faces Mario Zucchero, another Passione member looking for the treasure, and his mysterious Stand. Although Giorno's teammates are disappearing one by one, Giorno manages to deduce that everyone is alive. Before the distrustful Abbacchio, Giorno allows himself to be attacks and captured by the enemy Stand in order to help reveal its ability. 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 and defeat it and its user.

Upon discovering that their would-be assassin has a partner who ran ahead to Capri Island, Giorno and another member of the gang, Guido Mista, go ahead of the rest on an inner-tube-turned-fish to clear the way, in which Giorno keeps track of Mista's movements and Mista encounters Sale. After Sale's defeat by Mista, the group encounter 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 hope of getting information on the Boss and using her as leverage against him.

Hiding in the countryside
Giorno's group must now bodyguard Trish Una until the traitors are killed. However, not one day after, Narancia is discovered by Formaggio, a member of the traitorous assassination squad La Squadra di Esecuzione. While Narancia manages to kill Formaggio, the group's hideout is practically discovered. Giorno correctly predicts that the Boss will issue new orders immediately.

Ride to Florence
Bucciarati's Gang is told via computer that they have to retrieve a key in Pompeii in order to secure an unknown mode of transportation that is safe. In Pompeii, Giorno, Abbacchio, and Pannacotta Fugo fight Illuso, also an assassin. Giorno retrieves the key, but Abbacchio and Fugo are imprisoned in the mirror world created by Illuso's Man in the Mirror. Using Fugo's Stand Purple Haze to infect himself then infect Illuso, Giorno allows Purple Haze itself to finish off Illuso. Despite Fugo's insistence that Purple Haze's virus will inevitably kill him, Giorno saves himself by creating antibodies with Gold Experience's power. Fugo is left astonished by Giorno's actions, putting his trust in him.

On the key are engraved the Boss' next orders: Bucciarati must now to go to the Naples train station then hitch a train ride to Venice. While the gang meets the turtle Coco Jumbo which can act as a shelter and hiding spot for everyone due to its Stand Mr.President, they are pursued by an assassin duo.

Inside the train, Bucciarati's Gang is attacked by the team Pesci and Prosciutto, and suddenly everyone grows old. Before succumbing to the forced aging, Giorno still manages to work out how Prosciutto's The Grateful Dead functions and its weaknesses. Mista and Bruno would use that knowledge to defeat both Prosciutto and Pesci. However during the battle, Pesci stops the train after killing the drivers, and the gang is now immobilized.

On the roads
Still having to go to Venice, Bucciarati's Gang first try to hitch a ride, but Mista's Stand Sex Pistols force him to knock out the driver, leaving the gang to have to change their plan again.

In a parking lot, 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 that the car the gang actually takes will be harder to track.

Meanwhile another assassin, Melone, used his Stand Baby Face to track Bruno and neutralize both him and Trish inside the turtle. The autonomous Stand, blocked by Giorno, is ordered to kill him. At first, Baby Face seemingly kills Giorno by stealing a piece of his eye and throat and leaving him to die. Giorno is finally able to learn of Gold Experience's capacity to mend injuries by converting objects into the needed flesh and bones, saving himself. That gives him the upper hand, allowing him to win against Baby Face without the help of the others by trapping the Stand with vines to Melone's motorcycle and blowing it up. Afterward, Giorno sends a lethally venomous snake made out of one of Baby Face's parts to Melone, who is bitten.

Venice
Bruno receives new orders from the Boss, who tells him to retrieve an unknown item in Venice. Giorno and Mista are assigned to retrieve 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 and using armor to stop bullets, respectively. Making the mistake of underestimating Ghiaccio, Giorno is imprisoned by ice while their car is sinking in the sea, and despairs to survive this encounter. Yet, Mista manages to stay calm and cancels Ghiaccio's power, freeing Giorno, and carry on the fight, discovering a weak point in Ghiaccio's armor. In the ensuing shootout, Mista is still overpowered by Ghiaccio, but Giorno calls out to him 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 guidance before having one last bout with Ghiaccio and sending his neck onto a splintered lamppost. Although Ghiaccio is barely alive, him undoing his ability unintentionally sets Giorno free. Giorno saves Mista when he is shot in the head and praises his resolve, then finishes Ghiaccio off by having Gold Experience kick him until his neck is completely impaled.

Giorno and Mista retrieve a disk which contains the Boss's last orders and are ordered to bring Trish to the San Giorgio Maggiore basilisk. Giorno, eager to find the Boss' identity, gives Bruno a living brooch in order to track the Boss. Unexpectedly, the Boss wanted to kill Trish, and Bruno openly revolts and fights the Boss. Alas, Bruno is no match for the Boss' Stand King Crimson. Giorno notices that something is wrong and rapidly intervenes, using Gold Experience's ability to stall the Boss long enough to save Trish and allow Bruno the chance to escape. Bruno apparently succumbs to his injuries when Giorno reaches and attempts to heal him. Shortly after, Bruno wakes up, and he and Giorno announce to the rest of the group that they openly rebelled against the Boss, and though most are scared, everyone but Fugo follows Bruno. Giorno notices that Bruno does not react to pain and that he is abnormally cold to the touch.

Clash and Talking Head
Still in Venice, Bucciarati's Gang debate what to do. Trish eventually informs them that the Boss met her mother in the island of Sardegna, giving the group a solid lead. At the same time, Passione operatives Tiziano and Squalo stealthily attack the group. Narancia is forced to constantly lie because of Tiziano's Talking Head, but Giorno soon suspects that they are under attack. While the shark-like Clash nearly kills him, Giorno manages to counsel Narancia to go after the Stand users, taking bullets from his Aerosmith in order to help Narancia keep track of his location. Narancia manages to kill both, using a spare tongue Giorno gave him to lure them out. Narancia becomes grateful to Giorno, and believes him to be the reason why the gang might win against the Boss.

Flight to Sardegna
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. Mista ends up killing the man after several warnings to back away, but Giorno is suspicious.

In the plane, Giorno's suspicions are confirmed when the Stand Notorious B.I.G. attacks the group. The Stand proves invulnerable, severely wounding both Narancia and Mista and forcing Giorno to lose both of his hands trying to remove Notorious B.I.G. from the plane. The gang retreats to the pilot's cabin and without his hands, Giorno cannot heal anyone. Trish discovers one of his brooches slowly turning into a hand; an action done by Giorno as a precaution to his loss of hands. Unfortunately Notorious B.I.G. is still in the plane, but Trish awakens her Stand Spice Girl when she becomes determined to make sure that the hand stays safe. Ultimately Trish manages to bring Giorno his hand and destroys the plane, plunging Notorious B.I.G. into the sea.

In Sardegna, Bucciarati's Gang investigate the Boss' past. Abbacchio uses his Moody Blues to rewind events to when the Boss met Trish's mother, while the rest of the group are attracted by strange happenings occurring a bit away (the Boss' subordinate Vinegar Doppio in a battle with la Squadra's leader Risotto Nero). They find a boy with his mouth stitched shut and clothes stolen, and Bucciarati realizes too late that they left 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 expose a negative of the Boss's face and fingerprints. While their attempts to investigate the police databases with the mold is fruitless, Bruno's Gang are noticed by an ally who reveals the Boss' name and power, Diavolo, and shows them the Arrow, 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.

Rome
Upon arriving to the coasts of Italy, the group is attacked by another Stand which causes explosive mold growth. Moreover, another Stand user able to swim through solid concrete attacks them as well. The duo Cioccolata and Secco tries to kill Bruno's Gang on the coast but Giorno, managing to deduce how Cioccolata's power functions, enables the whole group to steal a car and try to escape from their enemy. Bucciarati reveals that he's been dead since the first encounter with Diavolo, that he was only able to continue when Gold Experience gave him enough life, and that his time was running out as his body begins to deteriorate.

Cioccolata and Secco follow them to Rome where Cioccolata's Green Day causes chaos as he flies around in a helicopter. 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 heli was caught. Sex Pistols, and by extension Mista himself, are incapacitated with the exception of No.5, and Giorno decides to approach the helicopter, seeing the widespread death and chaos caused by the mad doctor. After a scuffle with Cioccolata's dismembered body, Giorno is sent falling off the building, only to use the bullet brought by No.5 to catch himself with a branch he created. Cioccolata is shot in the head by said bullet when he tries to make Giorno fall once more, and is seemingly killed. Giorno begins speaking to his body that he will spare him if he does not move when he approaches him, and the doctor expectingly reveals himself alive and attempts to kill Mista. A beetle begins eating the doctor's brain as Giorno reveals that he was buying time for the bullet to transform, and that he was lying to Cioccolata in order for him to let his guard down. 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.

Bruno 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 and is fatally injured, left with no choice but to use the Arrow on his Silver Chariot. Chariot Requiem appears out of Silver Chariot and makes everyone in Rome fall asleep and switches their souls. Great confusion arises as Giorno finds himself in Narancia's body, and Diavolo is now inhabited by Bruno's soul. Moreover, Chariot Requiem is now ferociously guarding the Arrow and no one can approach it without their own Stands attacking them. Finally, Diavolo's soul infiltrates Bucciarati's Gang and is sabotaging their attempts at retrieving the Arrow, having killed Narancia. Giorno mourns Narancia's death, and covers his body with flora before getting up and returning to the problem at hand.

Upon causing havoc and spreading distrust among the team, Diavolo reveals himself at the opportune moment, seemingly killing Trish and almost retrieving the Arrow, but Bruno manages to work out Chariot Requiem's weakness. Sacrificing himself to foil Diavolo's attempt at Chariot Requiem and by extension the Arrow, Bucciarati saves Trish's life and gives the Arrow to Giorno. He deeply thanks Giorno for their fateful meeting before ascending to Heaven. Chariot Requiem is destroyed, and everyone returns to their original bodies. Giorno takes the Arrow and pierces Gold Experience with it, unlocking 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. However, Requiem reveals its true ability to return anything to zero, effectively nullifying any action or process it desires, including King Crimson's time erasure. After Gold Experience Requiem finally punches 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 take the lead of Passione as a group of dignified men stand before him.

Purple Haze Feedback
(The information below derives from a Light Novel not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.) 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, accepts to destroy a Stone Mask. At the same time, Giorno enlists Fugo to help kill Passione's narcotic team 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. After talking to Fugo about the personal progress which he had made and his reasons for sending Fugo off to stop the narcotics team, Giorno finally gains Fugo's allegiance.

Stone Ocean (2012)
While Enrico Pucci's actions attracted three young men who were all DIO's sons 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 (were he to have made an appearance, he would have been 26 years old).