The incredible General Hospital moment when Jane Elliot made Giovanni Mazza cry

The budding relationship between General Hospital's Tracy Quartermaine and her newfound great-grandson, Gio Palmieri, has been one of the greatest joys to watch this year — and that's thanks to the connection between two incredible actors.

Giovanni Mazza meets a legend

Gio is a General Hospital Quartermaine newcomer | Image: ABC

When Giovanni Mazza made his GH debut last year at Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) and Chase's (Josh Swickard) wedding, we never expected the cousin from Brooklyn to become such an integral part of the Quartermaine clan, but almost a year-and-a-half later, that's where we are.

Gio was revealed to be Brook Lynn and Dante's (Dominic Zamprogna) son, whom she had given up for adoption as a teen. Before the big reveal even took place, Tracy had taken a liking to the Bensonhurst stray who took up residence in Monica's house, and they'd developed a special relationship.

Mazza admitted that he was a little intimidated by Jane Elliot when he first started working with her, but their working relationship grew over time.

"I can’t pinpoint a specific moment, but earlier this year, we were just doing a scene and I was coming from a very personal place, and she was coming from a very personal place, and we sort of just connected," Mazza told Soap Opera Digest. "It was just such an authentic connection — it’s something that actors dream about, that type of connection with their scene partner, and Jane is just one of the greatest scene partners ever!"

The General Hospital moment that changed everything

Giovanni Mazza broke down during this scene | Image: ABC

When Gio finally learned the truth about his birth parents and broke the news to Tracy that he was her great-grandson, our hearts skipped a beat, as the acting was so raw and real.

According to Mazza, Elliot caused him to become so emotional during the scene that taping had to stop.

"She was so powerful and so emotional that I couldn’t help it," Mazza said. "I think we cut it so that we could go back and film the tag again because I totally lost it for a couple of seconds — like, I genuinely broke down from her acting because it was so beautiful."

It took many months, but Gio finally told Tracy that he was proud to be her great-grandson last week in another moment that will stay with us forever.

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.