Aurelio was born on September 15, 1895 in Perugia, Italy.
 Perugia was the site of that year's annual sojourn away from Rome, where the family lived at 47 Via Ezio.
 He was the first of two sons born to Carlo Giuseppe Giorni (1850-1928), a Roman landscape painter and landowner of Italian-Danish descent, and Linda Bergner Giorni (1860-1937), an American mezzo-soprano of Germanic (Saxon) origin.
 Aurelio was also the great-grandson of famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.
 A midwife attended the birth and he was later baptised, as a Catholic, Aurelio Carlo Pietro Teodoro, his middle names honoring in turn his father, paternal and maternal grandfathers.
 The second son, Aurelio's brother, was Marcello Alberto Thorvaldsen, born December 17, 1902.
 The family were typical middle-class Italian intelligentsia: they had two maids and spent long periods away from Rome in the summer, often in Switzerland.

Aurelio's parents, particularly his mother, noted his musical aptitude at age 6 and he was accordingly tutored privately at home until, at age 13, he attended Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music and studied piano with Maestro Giovanni Sgambati and Ferruccio Busoni from 1909 to 1911, winning 1st prize.

He gave joint recitals with his mother Linda as early as February 1908 when he was barely 12 years old.

One such performance took place at the Hotel Excelsior in Rome on March 23, 1911.
 The press notice read as follows:
 The Giorni Concert at the Hotel Excelsior, attracted a very large number of ladies and gentlemen who are already aware of the unusual musical gifts possessed by Madame Linda Giorni & her son, Aurelio.

 All the numbers of the program were well received, and while the singing of Madame Giorni has been for several years the admiration of the Roman public, the remarkable interpretation give by Aurelio Giorni, (only 15 years old, and yet a composer of merit) added much to the novelty and interest.
 He played compositions by Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti and Sgambati in a manner which astonished and delighted the audience.
 His success was all the more marked because an unfortunate accident had happened to the piano, and the young musician was obliged to play without the use of the pedals.
 Madame Giorni sang arie & remanse by Haendel, Sgambati, Tschaikovsky, Brahms & Strauss, as well as compositions by Aurelio Giorni, who accompanied his mother on the piano.

(The above incident, referred to as The Broken Pedal, was used as the title of his daughter Elena's biography, for which much of this article is based.)

Aurelio graduated from Santa Cecilia with a perfect score, under age (15) when he did so, enabling him to enter the Meisterschule für Komposition (Master School for Composition) in Berlin from 1911 to 1913.
 There he studied composition with German composer Engelbert Humperdinck and Russian-born pianist/conductor/composer Ossip Gabrilowitsch.

Aurelio was 16 when he took leave and returned to Rome to perform as soloist in the César Franck Symphonic Variations and the Chopin E Minor Concerto at the Augusteo on February 8, 1912, an event he won in competition at Santa Cecilia.
 It was also in Rome in 1912 when Aurelio and his future wife, Helen Emerson Miller (1897-1988), first met while she was living in the Hotel Bel Cito in Rome with her mother and sister from 1912-1913.

Aurelio returned to his studies in Berlin until he returned to Rome in November 1913 for some concerts there.
 Aurelio was known in Rome as the "wonder child" of Carlo and Linda and was considered a remarkable pianist and composer at only 17 years old.

Between 1913 and 1915 he had tours in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Aurelio was born on September 15, 1895 in Perugia, Italy.  Perugia was the site of that year's annual sojourn away from Rome, where the family lived at 47 Via Ezio.  He was the first of two sons born to Carlo Giuseppe Giorni (1850-1928), a Roman landscape painter and landowner of Italian-Danish descent, and Linda Bergner Giorni (1860-1937), an American mezzo-soprano of Germanic (Saxon) origin.  Aurelio was also the great-grandson of famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.  A midwife attended the birth and he was later baptised, as a Catholic, Aurelio Carlo Pietro Teodoro, his middle names honoring in turn his father, paternal and maternal grandfathers.  The second son, Aurelio's brother, was Marcello Alberto Thorvaldsen, born December 17, 1902.  The family were typical middle-class Italian intelligentsia: they had two maids and spent long periods away from Rome in the summer, often in Switzerland.
Aurelio's parents, particularly his mother, noted his musical aptitude at age 6 and he was accordingly tutored privately at home until, at age 13, he attended Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music and studied piano with Maestro Giovanni Sgambati and Ferruccio Busoni from 1909 to 1911, winning 1st prize.
He gave joint recitals with his mother Linda as early as February 1908 when he was barely 12 years old.
One such performance took place at the Hotel Excelsior in Rome on March 23, 1911.  The press notice read as follows:
 The Giorni Concert at the Hotel Excelsior, attracted a very large number of ladies and gentlemen who are already aware of the unusual musical gifts possessed by Madame Linda Giorni & her son, Aurelio.
 All the numbers of the program were well received, and while the singing of Madame Giorni has been for several years the admiration of the Roman public, the remarkable interpretation give by Aurelio Giorni, (only 15 years old, and yet a composer of merit) added much to the novelty and interest.  He played compositions by Bach, Chopin, Scarlatti and Sgambati in a manner which astonished and delighted the audience.  His success was all the more marked because an unfortunate accident had happened to the piano, and the young musician was obliged to play without the use of the pedals.  Madame Giorni sang arie & remanse by Haendel, Sgambati, Tschaikovsky, Brahms & Strauss, as well as compositions by Aurelio Giorni, who accompanied his mother on the piano.
(The above incident, referred to as The Broken Pedal, was used as the title of his daughter Elena's biography, for which much of this article is based.)
Aurelio graduated from Santa Cecilia with a perfect score, under age (15) when he did so, enabling him to enter the Meisterschule für Komposition (Master School for Composition) in Berlin from 1911 to 1913.  There he studied composition with German composer Engelbert Humperdinck and Russian-born pianist/conductor/composer Ossip Gabrilowitsch.
Aurelio was 16 when he took leave and returned to Rome to perform as soloist in the César Franck Symphonic Variations and the Chopin E Minor Concerto at the Augusteo on February 8, 1912, an event he won in competition at Santa Cecilia.  It was also in Rome in 1912 when Aurelio and his future wife, Helen Emerson Miller (1897-1988), first met while she was living in the Hotel Bel Cito in Rome with her mother and sister from 1912-1913.
Aurelio returned to his studies in Berlin until he returned to Rome in November 1913 for some concerts there.  Aurelio was known in Rome as the "wonder child" of Carlo and Linda and was considered a remarkable pianist and composer at only 17 years old.
Between 1913 and 1915 he had tours in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Aurelio Giorni