List of Famous people born in Italy

Maria Ilva Biolcati, OMRI, known as Milva [ˈmilva], is an Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality. She is also known as La Rossa, due to the characteristic colour of her hair, and additionally as La Pantera di Goro, which stems from the Italian press having nicknamed the three most popular Italian female singers of the 1960s, combining the names of animals and the singers' birth places. The color also characterizes her leftist political beliefs, claimed in numerous statements. Popular in Italy and abroad, she has performed on musical and theatrical stages the world over, and has received popular acclaim in her native Italy, and particularly in Germany where she has often participated in musical events and televised musical programmes. She has also released numerous albums in France, Japan, Korea, Greece, Spain and South America.

Paolo Vanoli is an Italian professional football coach and a former player who played as a left back or left midfielder. He is the manager of the Russian club Spartak Moscow.

Francesco Petrarca, commonly anglicized as Petrarch, was an Aretine scholar and poet during the early Italian Renaissance, and one of the earliest humanists.

Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa was Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza. As a composer he is known for writing intensely expressive madrigals and pieces of sacred music that use a chromatic language not heard again until the late 19th century. The best known fact of his life is his gruesome killing of his first wife and her aristocratic lover upon finding them in flagrante delicto. The fascination for his extraordinary music and for his shocking acts have gone hand in hand.

Albano Antonio Carrisi, better known as Al Bano, is an Italian recording artist, actor, and winemaker. In 2016, he was awarded Albanian citizenship due to his close ties with the country.

Riccardo Morandi was an Italian civil engineer best known for his innovative use of reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete, although over the years some of his particular cable-stayed bridges have had some maintenance trouble.

Michele Scarponi was an Italian road bicycle racer, who rode professionally from 2002 until his death in 2017 for the Acqua e Sapone–Cantina Tollo, Domina Vacanze–Elitron, Würth, Acqua & Sapone–Caffè Mokambo, Androni Giocattoli, Lampre–Merida and Astana teams. He was declared the winner of the 2011 Giro d'Italia after the disqualification of Alberto Contador. Other major results of his career were the 2009 Tirreno–Adriatico, the 2011 Volta a Catalunya and the 2011 Giro del Trentino stage races.

Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He wrote three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him as well.

Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter, credited as the creator of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema.

Riccardo Muti, is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. Muti has been a prolific recording artist, and has received dozens of honours, titles, awards and prizes. He is especially associated with the music of Giuseppe Verdi.