Famous celebrities in Italy
Popular Italians over the course of history
Because of its long and great history, Italy has been the birthplace of many important persons that influenced the course of history, at times rather crucially. Beyond the well-known Roman emperors, writers and philosophers, there has been a great number of popular Italians over the further course of the history that, while having famous names, are not necessarily known to actually be Italian. Among them are many scientists, explorers, politicians, athletes and artists in particular. Reason enough to have a closer look at some of the most famous Italians.
Politicians, writers and other important persons
Besides the well-known womaniser Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798), writers, such as Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Umberto Eco and Dario For, have to be mentioned in particular. But even well-known politicians of the recent past, as Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi, are names that need to be remembered. The same applies to the Italian national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), art gallery owner Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) and fashion designer Giorgio Armani.
Scientists and explorers
The probably most famous explorer of our time, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), was a merchant born in Genoa who discovered America in 1492 and thus made history. The namesake of America, Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), was Italian as well. Both were preceded by Marco Polo (1254-1324), as his first major trip to China brought many innovations to Europe. When it comes to scientists, one must name Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who made groundbreaking discoveries in various fields of natural science. Just as importat are the mathematicians Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) and Leonardo Fibonacci (1175-1250), who discovered the Fibonacci numbers. Finally, one also has to mention Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), who is considered the explorer of electricity.
Italian artists
Among the Italian artists, there are a number of familiar names whose works can still be admired all over Italy. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo (1475-1564), Caravaggio (1573-1610), Raphael Santi (1483-1520), Titian (1488-1576), Francesco Borromini (1599-1667) and Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) are only some of the important artists named here. Also worth mentioning are the Italian singer and tenor Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007), the conductor Riccardo Muti and the famous composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901).
In the world of film and acting, actor Roberto Benigni, Sophia Loren, and Bud Spencer, and Sergio Leone (1929-1989) and Luchino Visconti (1906-1976) achieved worldwide success.
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