Famous Italians

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an Italian Renaissance philosopher, writer, and politician. He was born in Florence and served as a diplomat and advisor to the Florentine Republic for many years, but he was eventually imprisoned and exiled after the city was taken over by the Medici family. Machiavelli is best known for his political treatise, … Read more

Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo in Italian; Christoffa in Ligurian dialect) was born in Genoa in 1451. He had little education as a boy, and only learned to read and write as an adult. So he went to sea, as did many Genovese boys, and voyaged in the Mediterranean.  In 1476 he was shipwrecked off Portugal, … Read more