Giovanni Navone (Villanova d’Asti, 1839 – Turin, May 30, 1907) was a guitarist, composer, and music teacher.
The son of Domenico, he came from a well-known family of musicians, and was himself the father of the famous harpist Carolina Navone-Betti. Today, he is considered the founder of the Piedmontese guitar school for having taught nearly all of Turin’s guitarists of his time for 40 years; (Cesare Bianco, (1886-1956); Carlo Renieri, (1884-1943), Carlo Ravasegna, and various nobles, such as Carlo Vivalda (? -1906), the Marquis of Castellino, and many others.
He wrote many compositions, almost all of an easy style, which were popular in his time. But among his compositions, the rhapsody, Souvenir de Sant Pau, stands out. Giovanni Navone received the First Prize Gold Medal for performing it in mid-September 1892. The same piece entered the repertoire of guitarist and composer Italo Meschi (1887-1957) and other virtuoso guitarists of the era.