Carlo Ancelotti had humble beginnings as a midfielder in Italian club football. He was part of the Italian national squad in two World Cups and one UEFA Euro, and is one of three managers who have won the UEFA Champions League thrice, twice with Milan and once with Real Madrid.
Paolo Maldini is an Italian former professional footballer widely regarded as one of the greatest ever defenders. He played primarily as a left-back and central defender and was affiliated with Milan and the Italian national team. Currently, he is serving as the technical director for Milan. He is also the co-owner of the USL Championship club Miami FC.
Lorenzo Insigne is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward. He is currently affiliated with Serie A club Napoli and the Italian national team. He has over a decade’s experience as a professional and can play on either flank or through the center. He is known for his technical ability, speed, and accuracy from free kicks.
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian poet, writer, and correspondent of Petrarch. An important Renaissance humanist, Boccaccio was also one of the most prominent personalities of 14th-century European literature. A versatile writer, Giovanni Boccaccio is often viewed as the most important European prose writer of his generation. His works influenced popular personalities like Geoffrey Chaucer and Miguel de Cervantes.
Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian journalist, politician, and activist. He played a major role in the Italian revolutionary movement and in the unification of Italy. His efforts gave rise to an independent and unified Italy, which replaced many separate states that were dominated by foreign powers. Mazzini is widely regarded as the most influential European revolutionary.
Giacomo Leopardi was one of the greatest lyric poets of the 19th century. Born into a noble family, he mastered several languages and wrote many works by 16, in spite of suffering from a cerebrospinal ailment. Remembered for his iconic works such as A Silvia, he died during a cholera epidemic.
Salvatore Ferragamo was an Italian shoe designer. An innovative designer, Ferragamo is remembered for inventing the Cage heel. Also a pioneering shoe designer, Ferragamo experimented with materials including fish, crocodile, and kangaroo skin. He is also credited with founding the popular luxury goods company, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. Today, his company has extended its operations to include a ready-to-wear clothing line.
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian novelist, short story writer, poet, and dramatist. Best remembered for his plays, Pirandello was honored with the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934. An Italian nationalist, Pirandello supported Fascism; he asked the Fascist government to melt down his Nobel Prize medal for the Abyssinia Campaign.
Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico is regarded as a pioneer of what is now known as cultural anthropology, or ethnology. He brought together history and the social sciences in his work Scienza nuova. A poor bookseller’s son, he studied by candlelight but grew up to be a major Counter-Enlightenment figure.
Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian opera singer and recitalist. A coloratura mezzo-soprano, Bartoli is renowned for her interpretations of the works of popular composers like Mozart, Bellini, Handel, and Vivaldi. Also known for her versatility, Cecilia Bartoli can sing both mezzo and soprano roles. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including Grammy Awards.
Giacomo Agostini is an Italian world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He amassed 122 Grand Prix wins and 15 World Championship titles in a career spanning 17 years. Industry experts consider him one of the greatest Grand Prix riders of all time. In 2010, he was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.
Fabio Capello is a former footballer and manager. As a player, he won several trophies in a career that spanned over 15 years. Renowned for creating opportunities for his teammates, Capello is considered one of the best Italian footballers of his generation. He also had a successful career as a manager and is considered one of the greatest managers ever.
Max Biaggi is an Italian retired professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He is a former racing world champion who won the 2010 and 2012 World Superbike Championship. He also won the 250cc World Championship four consecutive times. His brilliant racing career earned him the nicknames 'il Corsaro' ('the Corsair') and 'the Roman Emperor.'
Alberto Sordi was an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, singer, composer, and voice actor. Widely regarded as an icon of Italian cinema, Sordi achieved greatness in a career that spanned 70 years! Over the course of his illustrious career, Alberto Sordi won several prestigious awards, including seven David di Donatello and a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
Baroque painter and poet Salvator Rosa was born near Naples, to a land surveyor father, who wanted him to become a priest or a lawyer. However, Rosa deviated to art. Initially devoted to landscapes, he later focused on religious art. He is remembered as a pioneer of the Neapolitan school.
Beatrice d'Este was one of the most beautiful noblewomen of the Italian Renaissance and a patron of the arts. The duchess of Bari and Milan through her marriage to Ludovico Sforza, she not only influenced the dress sense of her time but also supported the Milanese resistance during the Italian Wars.
Oriana Fallaci was an Italian author, journalist, and political interviewer. She achieved international recognition during the '60s, '70s, and '80s for her long and revealing interviews with several world leaders, including Indira Gandhi, Yasser Arafat, Willy Brandt, and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. Fallaci had a successful journalistic career and won important awards like the Bancarella Prize and the St. Vincent Prize.
The first wife of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia, who later became the king of Italy, Adelaide of Austria was a Milanese noblewoman who became the queen of Sardinia. She birthed 8 children, including future king of Italy, Umberto I. Her marriage to Victor was primarily a political alliance.
Alfonso Bialetti was an Italian engineer best remembered for inventing the famous Moka Express coffeemaker. The coffee pot, designed by Bialetti in 1933, has been a style icon ever since it achieved popularity during the 1950s. Alfonso Bialetti is also credited with founding Bialetti Industries, a giant kitchen-ware company.
Son of All-India Muslim League president Aga Khan III, Aly Khan was known for his numerous affairs and his marriage to Hollywood star Rita Hayworth. The socialite and race-horse owner was stripped of his inheritance, as Aga Khan’s will mentioned Aly’s son Karim as his successor.
Lea Massari is an Italian actress and singer best known for her portrayal of Clara Chevalier, the mother of a sexually precocious teenager, in Louis Malle's 1971 French comedy-drama film Murmur of the Heart. In 1975, Lea Massari served as a jury member at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Giacomo Gianniotti is an Italian-Canadian actor best known for his role in the medical drama TV series Grey's Anatomy. Born in Italy, he moved to Canada at a young age. He is active in both the Canadian and Italian stages, films, and TV. He is a recipient of the Tell-Tale TV Award for Favorite Actor in a Network Drama Series.
Born to Italian writer Cino Boccazzi, Kuki Gallmann later moved to Kenya with her husband and son, both of whom she lost in separate accidents. Taking up Kenyan citizenship, she focused on ecological conservation. He bestselling book I Dreamed Of Africa was later made into a movie.