List of Famous people born in Italy

Franca Viola is an Italian woman who became famous in the 1960s in Italy for refusing a "rehabilitating marriage" to her rapist after being kidnapped, held hostage for more than a week, and raped numerous times. She is considered to be the first Italian woman who had been raped to publicly refuse to marry her rapist. Instead, she and her family successfully pursued prosecution of the rapist. The trial had a wide resonance in Italy, as Viola's behavior clashed with traditional social conventions in Southern Italy, whereby a woman would lose her honour if she did not marry the man to whom she had lost her virginity. Franca Viola became a symbol of the cultural progress and emancipation of women in post-war Italy.

During an anti-globalization demonstration outside the July 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, protester Carlo Giuliani was shot dead by riot police as he and other demonstrators attacked their van, making his the first death during an anti-globalization demonstration since the movement's rise from the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. Photographs showed Giuliani, a 23-year-old Roman living in Genoa, throwing a fire extinguisher towards the van, a pistol firing a shot in return from the van, and Giuliani's body having been run over by the van. Charges against the officer were initially dropped without trial as a judge ruled that the ricocheted bullet was fired in self-defense, but the incident became a point of public scrutiny. The European Court of Human Rights, eight years after the incident, ruled that the Italian forces had acted within their limits, though damages were awarded for the state's procedural handling of the case. Appeals upheld the ruling, and Giuliani's family later filed a civil suit. Giuliani was memorialized in music tributes and public monuments, and is remembered as a symbol of the 2001 G8 protests. The 2002 documentary Carlo Giuliani, Boy, recounts the incident.

Giampaolo Pazzini, nicknamed Il Pazzo after his surname, is a former Italian professional footballer who played as a striker.

Andrea Favilli is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Verona on loan from Genoa.

Fabio Tordiglione, known professionally as Fabio Lione, is an Italian singer and lyricist who has worked with many bands in the metal genre. He was known for being the singer of Italian power metal band Rhapsody of Fire for 21 years. He later formed his own band Turilli / Lione Rhapsody with former Rhapsody of Fire guitarist Luca Turilli. He is also the current lead vocalist of Angra, and was the original singer of Labyrinth and Vision Divine.

Maria Duval is the woman at the origin of the Maria Duval psychic scam. Claiming to have psychic powers, she gained some fame before her name became associated with a vast and sophisticated mail scam.

Marcello Cesare Augusto Petacci was an Italian surgeon and businessman, the brother of actress Maria Petacci and of dictator Benito Mussolini's lover Clara Petacci.

Peter Martyr Vermigli was an Italian-born Reformed theologian. His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and his decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced many other Italians to convert and flee as well. In England, he influenced the Edwardian Reformation, including the Eucharistic service of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. He was considered an authority on the Eucharist among the Reformed churches, and engaged in controversies on the subject by writing treatises. Vermigli's Loci Communes, a compilation of excerpts from his biblical commentaries organised by the topics of systematic theology, became a standard Reformed theological textbook.

Nicola Zalewski is a Polish professional football player who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Roma.

Alfredo Rampi, nicknamed Alfredino, was an Italian child who died after falling into a well in Vermicino, a village near Frascati, on 10 June 1981.