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In the right, appropriate tempo — the natural speed the music’s character calls for — and, by extension, in strict time, without rubato.
Printed above the staff as a tempo heading — “Tempo giusto” at the head of a piece — or after a free passage to restore steady time. As a heading it lasts until the next tempo word; after a ritardando, cadenza or ad lib. passage it works like a firmer “a tempo”.
Tempo giusto names a character rather than a speed: the natural, unexaggerated pace the music calls for, kept steady. It can head a piece — Chopin and Liszt both open with it — or follow a free passage to restore strict time, where it works like a firmer a tempo. Because it gives no speed of its own, add a metronome mark if the exact pace matters.
Chopin, Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2: “Tempo giusto” heads the waltz over a p opening — a steady, natural waltz pace rather than a named speed.
Tempo giusto is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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