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Curated category

Italian Roman Catholics

  • MichelangeloMichelangelo carved one of his most famous works, the Pietà, before he turned 30, then sculpted David before the same milestone.
  • TitianTiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian, was born in Pieve di Cadore near Belluno. The exact date of his birth remains uncertain to this day.
  • Carlo MadernoCarlo Maderno was born in 1556 within the Swiss bailiwick of Capolago. He began his working life cutting stone in the marble quarries of northern Italy…
  • TintorettoJacopo Robusti was born in Venice during the late months of 1518. His father, Battista, worked as a dyer, a trade that gave Jacopo his nickname Tintoretto…
  • RaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in March 1483 or the 6th of April 1483.
  • Marie de' MediciOn the 26th of April 1575, Maria de' Medici was born inside the Palazzo Pitti of Florence. Her father Francesco I ruled Tuscany as Grand Duke while her…
  • Victor Emmanuel IIVictor Emmanuel was born in Palazzo Carignano, Turin on the 14th of March 1820. He entered the world as the eldest son of Carlo Alberto Prince of Carignano…
  • Filippino LippiFilippino Lippi was born in 1457 at Prato, Tuscany. He entered the world as the illegitimate son of Lucrezia Buti and Fra Filippo Lippi.
  • Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was born between the 25th of August and the 31st of October in 1451 within the Republic of Genoa. His father Domenico worked as a wool…
  • Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of UrbinoLorenzo di Piero de' Medici entered the world on the 12th of September 1492 in Florence. His father was Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and his mother was…
  • Joséphine de Beauharnais"France, the Army, the Head of the Army, Joséphine." These were the last words Napoleon spoke on his deathbed at Saint Helena.
  • Lorenzo GhibertiLorenzo Ghiberti was born in 1378 in Pelago, a small town located twenty kilometers from Florence. His parentage remains uncertain because his mother Fiore…
  • Paolo VeroneseThe census records of 1528 list a stonecutter named Gabriele and his wife Caterina as the parents of their fifth child, Paolo.
  • GiottoGiotto di Bondone was born around 1267 in Florence, though some sources suggest a farmhouse in the Mugello region. His father worked as a blacksmith named…
  • MasaccioTommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone entered the world on the 21st of December 1401 in Castel San Giovanni di Altura. His father worked as a notary while his…
  • Amerigo VespucciAmerigo Vespucci was born on the 9th of March 1454 in Peretola, a suburb of Florence. His father Nastagio worked as a notary for the Money-Changers Guild…
  • DonatelloIn January 1401, a fifteen-year-old boy named Donato stood accused in the town of Pistoia. He had struck a German man with a wooden stick and drawn blood…
  • Filippo BrunelleschiFilippo di ser Brunellesco di Lippo Lapi entered the world in Florence, Italy, during 1377. His father worked as a notary and civil servant named Brunellesco…
  • Girolamo SavonarolaGirolamo Savonarola was born on the 21st of September 1452 in Ferrara to Niccolò di Michele and Elena. His grandfather, Michele Savonarola, was a noted…
  • Sandro BotticelliAlessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi was born in Florence between 1444 and 1446, though the exact day remains unknown.
  • CaravaggioMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio arrived in Milan on the 29th of September 1571. His father Fermo worked as a household administrator for the local marquess.
  • Giorgio VasariGiorgio Vasari arrived into the world prematurely on the 30th of July 1511 in Arezzo, Tuscany. His early years were marked by a recommendation from his…
  • Giovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina arrived in the world between the 3rd of February 1525 and the 2nd of February 1526 within the town of Palestrina.
  • Lorenzo de' MediciLorenzo di Piero de' Medici entered the world on the 1st of January 1449. He grew up in a family that already held immense power and wealth.
  • CimabueGiovanni Cimabue was born in Florence around 1240 and died there in 1302. He began his career painting within the strict rules of Italo-Byzantine art.
  • Antonio SalieriAntonio Salieri was born on the 18th of August 1750 in the town of Legnago, located south of Verona within the Republic of Venice.
  • Salvatore SchillaciSalvatore Schillaci was born on the 1st of December 1964 in Palermo, Italy. He grew up in a poor family within that Sicilian city.
  • Giovanni Battista TiepoloGiovanni Battista Tiepolo entered the world on the 5th of March 1696 in Venice. He was the youngest of six children born to Domenico and Orsetta Tiepolo.
  • Alcide De GasperiAlcide De Gasperi was born on the 3rd of April 1881 in Pieve Tesino, a small village nestled high in the Tyrol mountains.
  • Andrea MantegnaAndrea Mantegna was born in Isola di Carturo, close to Padua, in the Venetian Republic. He became apprenticed to Paduan painter Francesco Squarcione at the…
  • Gianluigi BuffonGianluigi Buffon entered the world on the 28th of January 1978 in Carrara, a city in Tuscany known for its marble quarries.