He attended a Benedictine school in Ascona, near Locarno, Switzerland. With the war over, he was able to pool resources with friends to start a record collection. By 1946, the Voice of America, the USA's international non-military radio broadcasting service, had been established and Giorgio was exposed to be-bop via the "Cool City" program on VOA. (In 1964, his father having died and left him some money, Giorgio would return to Ascona and stage a jazz festival in a local airfield.)