Pier Giorgio was born in Turin, Italy to a very wealthy family. At an early age, he developed a deep love for Christ. When he was 17 years old, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and spent much of his spare time serving the poor. Pier Giorgio considered it a privilege to help the poor. Oftentimes, he would give his bus money to the poor and then run home so he wouldn’t be late for dinner. In college, he studied mining engineering because he wanted to “serve Christ better among the miners.” Throughout his life, he loved art, music, and hiking in the mountains. 

Pier Giorgio died on July 4, 1925 from polio. On the eve of his death, with a paralyzed hand he scribbled a message to a friend, asking him to take some medicine to a poor sick man he had been visiting. Pier Giorgio’s funeral was a triumph. The streets of the city were lined with a multitude of mourners who were unknown to his family - the poor and the needy whom he had served for seven years. His body was found completely intact and incorrupt in 1981 when his remains were transferred from the family tomb in Pollone to the cathedral in Turin.