List of Famous people born in Italy

Nicola Arigliano was an Italian jazz singer, musician, and occasional actor.

Maria Grazia Cucinotta is an Italian actress who has featured in films and television series since 1990. She has also worked as a film producer, screenwriter and model. Internationally she is best known for her roles in Il Postino, as Isabella from HBO television series The Sopranos, and as the Bond girl, credited as a Cigar Girl, in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.

Giorgio Cantarini is an Italian actor who, to date, has appeared in two Academy Award winning films: 1997's Life Is Beautiful and 2000's Gladiator.

Paul of the Cross was an Italian mystic, and founder of the Passionists.

Ugo Tognazzi was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter.

Pietro Paolo Mennea was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200 m event, in which he won a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics and set a world record at 19.72 seconds in September 1979. This record stood for almost 17 years – the longest duration in the event history – and is still listed as the European record.

Stanislao Cannizzaro was an Italian chemist. He is famous for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860.

Valeria Messalina or Messallina was the third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. Her notorious reputation probably resulted from political bias, but works of art and literature have perpetuated it into modern times.

Saint Alexius or Alexius of Rome or Alexius of Edessa was a fourth-century monk who lived in anonymity and is known for his dedication to Christ. There are two versions of his life that are known to us, a Syriac one and a Greek one.

Pope Pius VII, born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in 1823. Chiaramonti was also a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict in addition to being a well-known theologian and bishop throughout his life.