Born in Milan to a Southern family and raised in Cesano Boscone, Caracciolo has a diploma in electrical engineering.

Caracciolo's family practiced football: his father, originally from Reggio Calabria, was a midfielder in various Lombard teams; his brother Vincenzo played in Varese, whereas his uncle Fortunato was awarded as the best player in an edition of the Viareggio Tournament.

Moreover, Sampdoria and Palermo formed numbers of swap deal in 2006 summer transfer windows, made there was a net debt of about €2.2 million from Palermo to Sampdoria on 30 June 2007 (without counting Caracciolo; or exactly €3.5 million ca in July 2006[8]);,[3] made the signing of Caracciolo again involved little cash.

On 31 January 2008, Caracciolo agreed to return to Brescia in a permanent transfer,[9] for €7.05 million, with Sampdoria received half of the transfer fee (€3.55 million)[10] Yet, instead of receiving cash, Sampdoria signed Morris Donati and Mattia Mustacchio in co-ownership deal for €300,000 and €700,000 respectively and rested of the credit was used for signing Marius Stankevičius (€3M) in early July.

[11] In 2011–12 Serie A, Caracciolo had half his rights bought by Genoa for €1.5 million in another co-ownership deal,[12] which the club was searching for a reliable centre forward for years; Genoa also failed to sign Antonio Floro Flores early in June and sell Sergio Floccari after the expire of loan.

He scored his first goal on 12 February, marking the winner in a 1–0 shock exploit at Stadio San Siro against Inter.

On 22 November 2014, he scored a hat-trick of penalties in a 3–3 home draw against Carpi, match valid for 15th week of 2014–15 Serie B.

[16] On 16 August 2006, he was recalled to the Azzurri squad by new coach Roberto Donadoni for a friendly game against Croatia held in Livorno, replacing Cristiano Lucarelli in the 65th minute of the 2–0 defeat.