Of Italian-American ancestry, Narizzano was educated at Bishop's University, Quebec. His first theatrical work was with the Mountain Playhouse in Montreal, before joining the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as assistant to Norman Jewison, Arthur Hiller, Sidney J. Furie and Ted Kotcheff. From the mid-1950's, he worked in British television in a variety of genres ranging from thrillers and horror to serious dramatic works by J.B. Priestley, John Mortimer and William Inge.

Influenced by the French New Wave, he achieved his greatest cinematic acclaim as director of Georgy Girl (1966), a romantic comedy (considered risqué at the time) set in swinging 60's London, starring Lynn Redgrave and James Mason. Narizzano spent his twilight years in relative seclusion, having immersed himself in religious studies.