Giovanni Falcone’s dream was to pursue a naval career, but his father decided that joining the armed forces was the best choice for him and convinced him to dedicate himself to studying Law, marking his destiny. Falcone graduated in 1961 and began practicing law before starting his career as a judge in 1964. He spent his early childhood in the Kalsa district of Palermo. Giovanni was four years old when the area where he was born was severely hit by aerial attacks during the Allied invasion of Sicily in '43. His family – his father Arturo, mother Luisa, little Giovanni, and his two older sisters, Anna and Maria – were forced to move to allow the reconstruction of the house, almost destroyed by the bombs. At the Falcone house, a conservative and Catholic atmosphere of great rigor prevailed, but even as a teenager, Giovanni distanced himself from this, absorbing left-wing ideals. His environment was calm, but stepping outside, he found himself in an area where the mafia, though quiescent, was present. Tommaso Spadaro, a boy he used to play ping-pong with in the recreational area of Catholic Action, would later become a notorious smuggler and mafia killer.

Rita, this was the name of Giovanni Falcone's first wife. The two married in 1964 after two years of engagement. In the same year, Giovanni passed the exam to enter the Italian judiciary. After the marriage, Rita and Giovanni moved to Trapani, where Giovanni had received an important position in the civil section of the court. The marriage went through a crisis, leading to separation. In 1979, Judge Falcone moved to the Criminal Division of the Judiciary, where he was paired with Paolo Borsellino, whom he had known since childhood. Ten years later, in 1983, the anti-mafia pool was created: Falcone, Rocco Chinnici, Giuseppe Di Lello, and Paolo Borsellino cooperated in the investigations (following Chinnici's assassination, Leonardo Guarnotta was added).