Giovanni Martino was born in Penn Wynne, Pennsylvania. He is the younger brother of the painter, Antonio P. Martino. Giovanni studied at the Spring Garden Institute, and the Philadelphia Graphic Sketch Club. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, New York and the Philadelphia Watercolor Club, Philadelphia. He exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, the Golden Gate Exposition, San Francisco, and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.