Giovanni Giraud was born in Rome, in a noble family with distant links with France. Giraud was always passionate about theatre and started staging puppet shows in his home when he was still very young. Later, he studied playwrights seriously, most particularly Goldoni. He also made art and music. He wrote for ten years before publishing a collection of comedies in 1808, which met with great success. He then moved to Paris and was appointed director of the imperial theatres of Italy. On this occasion, he worked with Piedmontese and Tuscan theatres; he even began to think about copyrighting his work and creating permanent companies. When he came back to Italy in 1815, he devoted himself to unsuccessful financial and commercial projects. Giraud died in Naples in 1834.