Historical Figures from Italy

Emperor · 63 BC – 14

Augustus was the first Roman emperor, the heir of Julius Caesar who ended a century of civil war, established the Roman Empire, and inaugurated the Pax Romana.

• First Roman emperor
• The Pax Romana

Explorer · 1451 – 1506

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who, sailing for Spain in 1492, opened sustained European contact with the Americas — a voyage of immense and deeply controversial consequence.

• Reaching the Americas in 1492
• Opening the Age of Exploration

Statesman · 106 BC – 43 BC

Cicero was a Roman statesman, orator and philosopher whose speeches and writings defined Latin prose, transmitted Greek philosophy to Rome, and championed the values of the Roman Republic.

• Roman oratory
• Defending the Republic

Poet · 1265 – 1321

Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet of the late Middle Ages whose masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, is considered one of the greatest works of world literature and helped establish the Italian language.

• The Divine Comedy
• Inferno

Nurse · 1820 – 1910

Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer and statistician, the founder of modern nursing, whose work in the Crimean War and pioneering use of data transformed hospital care and public health.

• Founding modern nursing
• Crimean War reforms

Astronomer · 1564 – 1642

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, the "father of modern science", whose telescopic discoveries and championing of heliocentrism transformed our understanding of the cosmos.

• Telescopic astronomy
• Defending heliocentrism

Military Leader · 100 BC – 44 BC

Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman whose conquest of Gaul and victory in civil war made him dictator of Rome, ending the Republic and paving the way for the Empire.

• Conquest of Gaul
• Crossing the Rubicon

Artist · 1452 – 1519

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath — painter, inventor, anatomist and engineer — whose curiosity and genius made him the archetype of the 'Renaissance man'.

• Mona Lisa
• The Last Supper

Emperor · 121 – 180

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, the last of the "Five Good Emperors", whose private journal, the Meditations, is the most cherished work of Stoic thought.

• The Meditations
• Stoic philosophy

Artist · 1475 – 1564

Michelangelo was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter and architect, one of the greatest artists in history, creator of the David, the Pietà and the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

• The David
• The Sistine Chapel ceiling

Philosopher · 1469 – 1527

Niccolò Machiavelli was a Renaissance Italian diplomat, political philosopher and writer whose treatise The Prince founded modern political science and gave his name to ruthless statecraft.

• The Prince
• Founding modern political science

Painter · 1483 – 1520

Raphael was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance whose works, prized for their harmony and grace, include The School of Athens and a famous series of serene Madonnas.

• The School of Athens
• Sistine Madonna