This is a list of Italian inventors:

A

Giovanni Battista Amici Giovanni Battista Amici (; 25 March 1786 – 10 April 1863) was an Italian astronomer, microscopist, and botanist. Amici was born in Modena, in present-day Italy. After studying at Bologna, he became professor of mathematics at Modena, and in 18 ...

B

Flavio Baracchini Flavio Torello Baracchini () was an Italian World War I fighter ace credited with 21 confirmed and nine unconfirmed aerial victories. His confirmed victory total ranked him fourth among Italian aces of the war. After the war he worked as an inven ...

Eugenio Barsanti Father Eugenio Barsanti (12 October 1821 – 19 April 1864), also named Nicolò, was an Italian engineer, who together with Felice Matteucci of Lucca invented the first version of the internal combustion engine in 1853. Their patent request was gr ...

Robert Ludvigovich Bartini Robert Ludvigovich Bartini (russian: Роберт Людвигович Бартини; 14 May 1897 – 6 December 1974) was an Hungarian-born Soviet aircraft designer and scientist, involved in the development of numerous successful and experime ...

* Gianni Bettini * Lucio Bini * Augusto Bissiri *

Claudio Bordignon In 1992 Doctor Claudio Bordignon working at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy performed the first procedure of gene therapy using hematopoietic stem cells as vectors to deliver genes intended to correct hereditary diseases. Th ...

Enea Bossi, Sr. Enea Bossi Sr. (March 29, 1888January 9, 1963) was an Italian American, Italian-American aerospace engineer and aviation pioneer. He is best known for designing the Budd Company, Budd Budd BB-1 Pioneer, BB-1 ''Pioneer'', the first stainless steel ...

Giovanni Branca Giovanni Branca (22 April 1571 – 24 January 1645) was an Italian engineer and architect, chiefly remembered today for what some commentators have taken to be an early steam turbine. Life Branca was born on 22 April 1571 in Sant'Angelo in L ...

Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli (also Luigi Gaspare Brugnatelli or Luigi Vincenzo Brugnatelli) (14 February 1761 in Pavia – 24 October 1818 in Pavia) was an Italian chemist and inventor who discovered the process for electroplating in 1805. Ear ...

Tito Livio Burattini Tito Livio Burattini ( pl, Tytus Liwiusz Burattini, 8 March 1617 – 17 November 1681) was an inventor, architect, Egyptologist, scientist, instrument-maker, traveller, engineer, and nobleman, who spent his working life in Poland and Lithuania. ...

C

* Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti *

Tullio Campagnolo Gentullio Campagnolo (26 August 1901 – 3 February 1983) was an Italian racing cyclist and inventor who patented the quick release skewer, as well as founder of the bicycle component company Campagnolo. Many professional cyclists have used Ca ...

Secondo Campini Secondo Campini (August 28, 1904 – February 7, 1980) was an Italian engineer and one of the pioneers of the jet engine. Campini was born at Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. In 1931 he wrote a proposal for the Italian Air Ministry on the value of jet pr ...

Mario Capecchi Mario Ramberg Capecchi (born 6 October 1937) is an Italian-born molecular geneticist and a co-awardee of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a method to create mice in which a specific gene is turned off, known as knock ...

* Arturo Caprotti *

Gerolamo Cardano Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; french: link=no, Jérôme Cardan; la, Hieronymus Cardanus; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath, whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, ...

Antonio Benedetto Carpano Antonio Benedetto Carpano (1764, Bioglio (Biella) - 1815, Turin) was an Italian distiller, famous for having invented vermouth and consequently the apéritif. In 1786, Antonio Benedetto Carpano invented modern Vermouth in Turin, made from white ...

Giovanni Caselli Giovanni Caselli (8 June 1815 – 25 April 1891) was an Italian priest, inventor, and physicist. He studied electricity and magnetism as a child which led to his invention of the pantelegraph (also known as the universal telegraph or all-purpose ...

Ugo Cerletti Ugo Cerletti (26 September 1877 – 25 July 1963) was an Italian neurologist who discovered the method of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) used in psychiatry. Electroconvulsive therapy is a therapy in which electric current is used to provoke a seiz ...

Leonardo Chiariglione Leonardo Chiariglione () (born 30 January 1943 (age ) in Almese, Turin province, Piedmont, Italy) is an Italian engineer who has led the development of international technical standards for digital media. In particular, he was the chairman of t ...

Alberto Ciaramella Alberto Ciaramella (born 1947) is an Italian computer engineer and scientist. He is notable for extensive pioneering contributions in the field of speech technologies and applied natural language processing, most of them at CSELT and Loquendo, w ...

* Giuseppe Cipriani *

Francesco Cirio Francesco Cirio (25 December 1836 – 9 January 1900) was an Italian businessman, and is credited with being one of the first in the world with developing the appertization technique in Italy. Appertization is the method of processing vegetables t ...

Bartolomeo Cristofori Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco (; May 4, 1655 – January 27, 1731) was an Italian maker of musical instruments famous for inventing the piano. Life The available source materials on Cristofori's life include his birth and death reco ...

Alessandro Cruto Alessandro Cruto was an Italian inventor, born in the town of Piossasco, near Turin, who created an early incandescent light bulb. Son of a construction foreman, he attended the school of architecture at the University of Turin, while also at ...

D

Luigi Dadda Luigi Dadda (April 29, 1923 – October 26, 2012) was an Italian computer engineer, best known for the design of the Dadda multiplier and as one of the first researchers on modern computers in Italy. He was rector at the Politecnico di Mila ...

* Salvino D'Armate * Corradino D'Ascanio *

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

Giuseppe Donati Giuseppe Donati (2 December 1836 – 14 February 1925) was the inventor of the classical ocarina, a ceramic wind instrument based on the principle of a Helmholtz resonator. Donati was born in Budrio. Legend has it that he created his first ...

E

F

* Fabio Perini *

Gabriele Falloppio Gabriele Falloppio (also Gabrielle Falloppia) (1522/23 – 9 October 1562) was an Italian anatomist often known by his Latin name Fallopius. He was one of the most important anatomists and physicians of the sixteenth century, giving his name ...

Federico Faggin Federico Faggin (, ; born 1 December 1941) is an Italian physicist, engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He is best known for designing the first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004. He led the 4004 (MCS-4) project and the design group d ...

* Enrico Fermi *

Salvatore Ferragamo Salvatore Ferragamo (5 June 1898 – 7 August 1960) was an Italian shoe designer and the founder of luxury goods high-end retailer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. An innovative shoe designer, Salvatore Ferragamo established a reputation in the 1930s. ...

Galileo Ferraris Galileo Ferraris (31 October 1847 – 7 February 1897) was an Italian university professor, physicist and electrical engineer, one of the pioneers of AC power system and inventor of the induction motor although he never patented his work. Many ...

Pietro Ferrero Pietro Ferrero (; 2 September 1898 – 2 March 1949) was the founder of Ferrero SpA, an Italian confectionery and chocolatier company. His company invented Nutella, a hazelnut-cream spread, which is now sold in over 160 countries. Ferrero Roch ...

Carlo Forlanini Carlo Forlanini (11 June 1847 – 26 May 1918) was a medical doctor and professor at the Universities of Turin and Pavia. He was also the inventor of artificial pneumothorax, which was the primary treatment method of pulmonary tuberculosis for t ...

Enrico Forlanini Enrico Forlanini (13 December 1848 – 9 October 1930) was an Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer, known for his works on helicopters, aeroplanes, hydrofoils and dirigibles. He was born in Milan. His older brother Carlo Forlanini ...

G

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He wa ...

* Luigi Galvani *

Gasparo da Salò Gasparo da Salò (20 May 154214 April 1609) is the name given to Gasparo Bertolotti, one of the earliest violin makers and an expert double bass player. Around 80 of his instruments are known to have survived to the present day: violins (small ...

Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri (1651–1725) was a seventeenth-century Italian adventurer and traveler. He was among the first Europeans to tour the world by securing passage on ships involved in the carrying trade; his travels, undertaken for p ...

Flavio Gioja Flavio Gioia or Gioja, also known as Ioannes Gira Amalphensis (; 1300 – ?) is reputed to have been an Italian mariner, inventor, and supposedly a marine pilot. He has traditionally been credited with developing the sailor's compass, but this h ...

Giuseppe di Giugno Giuseppe Di Giugno (born 1937 in Benghazi) is an Italian physicist. He graduated with a degree in physics from Rome University in 1961. Particle physics From 1961 until 1975, Di Giugno was a researcher in the field of matter-antimatter interactio ...

* Guido of Arezzo

J

Candido Jacuzzi Jacuzzi Brands LLC (; ), through its subsidiaries, is a global manufacturer and distributor of branded baths, hot tubs, pools, saunas and, formerly, aircraft. Founded in 1915 by the Italian family of the same name, Jacuzzi is a federally registe ...

L

* Ruggero Lenci *

Domingo Liotta Domingo Santo Liotta (29 November 1924 – 31 August 2022) was an Argentine surgeon and pioneer of heart surgery who created multiple cardiac prostheses, including the first total artificial heart used in a human being. Early life Domingo Sant ...

* Cesare Lombroso *

Vincenzo Lunardi Vincenzo Lunardi (11 January 1754 in Lucca – 1 August 1806 in Lisbon) was a pioneering Italian aeronaut, born in Lucca. Ascents in England Vincenzo Lunardi's family were of minor Tuscan nobility from Lucca, and his father had married late in li ...

Giovanni Luppis Giovanni (Ivan) Biagio Luppis Freiherr von Rammer (27 August 1813 – 11 January 1875), sometimes also known by the Croatian name of Vukić, was an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Navy who headed a commission to develop the first prototypes o ...

M

* Amatino Manucci *

Innocenzo Manzetti Innocenzo Vincenzo Bartolomeo Luigi Carlo Manzetti (; 17 March 1826 – 15 March 1877) was an Italians, Italian inventor born in Aosta. Following his primary school studies he went to the Jesuit-run Saint Bénin Boarding School and then on to ...

* Guglielmo Marconi *

Felice Matteucci Felice Matteucci (February 12, 1808 – September 13, 1887) was an Italian hydraulic engineer who co-invented an internal combustion engine with Eugenio Barsanti. Their patent request was granted in London on June 12, 1854, and published in L ...

Antonio Meucci Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci ( , ; 13 April 1808 – 18 October 1889) was an Italian inventor and an associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a major political figure in the history of Italy.

* Guido Monaco *

Maria Montessori Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori ( , ; August 31, 1870 – May 6, 1952) was an Italian physician and educator best known for the philosophy of education that bears her name, and her writing on scientific pedagogy. At an early age, Montessori e ...

* Angelo Moriondo

N

Giulio Natta Giulio Natta (26 February 1903 – 2 May 1979) was an Italian chemical engineer and Nobel laureate. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for work on high polymers. He also received a Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1969. Biograph ...

P

Antonio Pacinotti Antonio Pacinotti (17 June 1841 – 24 March 1912) was an Italian physicist, who was Professor of Physics at the University of Pisa. Biography Pacinotti was born in Pisa, where he also died. He was the son of Luigi Pacinotti and Caterina ...

* Luigi Palmieri * Enzo Paoletti * Pier Giorgio Perotto *

Ignazio Porro Ignazio Porro (25 November 1801 – 8 October 1875) was an Italian inventor of optical instruments. Porro's name is most closely associated with the prism system which he invented around 1850 and which is used in the construction of Porro prism ...

Giambattista della Porta Giambattista della Porta (; 1535 – 4 February 1615), also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution and Reformation. Giamb ...

* Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli

R

Giuseppe Ravizza Giuseppe Ravizza, a prolific typewriter inventor, was born in Novara, Italy in 1811 (died 1885), and spent nearly 40 years of his life obsessively grappling with the complexities of inventing a usable writing machine. He called his invention ' bec ...

S

* Sanctorius *

Raimondo di Sangro Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero (30 January 1710 – 22 March 1771) was an Italian nobleman, inventor, soldier, writer, scientist, alchemist and freemason best remembered for his reconstruction of the Sansevero Chapel in Naples. Early l ...

* Antonio Sant'Elia * Ascanio Sobrero * Nazareno Strampelli

T

* Gasparo Tagliacozzi * Teseo Tesei * Luigi Torchi *

Evangelista Torricelli Evangelista Torricelli ( , also , ; 15 October 160825 October 1647) was an Italian physicist and mathematician, and a student of Galileo. He is best known for his invention of the barometer, but is also known for his advances in optics and work ...

Pellegrino Turri Pellegrino Turri (1765–1828), an Italian inventor, invented a mechanical typing machine, one of the first typewriters, at the start of the 19th century (conflicting accounts suggest 1801, 1806 or 1808) for his blind friend Countess Carolina Fant ...

* Juanelo Turriano

V

* Alessandro Volta *

Andrew Viterbi Andrew James Viterbi (born Andrea Giacomo Viterbi, March 9, 1935) is an American electrical engineer and businessman who co-founded Qualcomm Inc. and invented the Viterbi algorithm. He is the Presidential Chair Professor of Electrical Engineeri ...

Z

* Ildebrando Zacchini * Giuseppe Zamboni *

Girolamo Zenti Girolamo Zenti (Viterbo c.1609 - Paris c.1666) (also: Girolama de Zenti, Gerolamo de Sentis, Hieronymus de Zentis) was an Italian harpsichord maker and organ builder in the 17th century. He is known as the probable inventor of the bentside spinet ...

{{Lists of people from Italy by profession

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Inventors An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...