44.4939° N, 11.3428° E

BOLOGNA

Most Famous People Born in Bologna, Italy

Notable people
1,915
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1902
Most distinctive
Painter 5.5×

Home to the oldest continuously operating university in Europe, and the bench still reads like a Studium. Bologna's distinctive professions are painters, composers, sculptors, physicians, and architects — the trades of a medieval university town that trained Europe's doctors and later built one of the great schools of baroque painting around the Carracci. Pasolini was born here, Marconi grew up in a villa nearby, and Luigi Galvani dissected frogs at the anatomy theatre that is still standing.

Through the Centuries

One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Bologna during each.

What Bologna Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Painter is Bologna's biggest profession — 14% of all notables (277).

Bologna over-indexes on painter5.5× the global rate.

Bologna under-produces football — only 0.5× the global rate.

  1. Painter277
  2. Politician133
  3. Actor120
  4. Football98
  5. Composer94
  6. Writer90
  7. Singer73
  8. Priest51
  1. Painter2775.5×
  2. Composer943.7×
  3. Sculptor292.3×
  4. Physician282.1×
  5. Basket461.9×
  6. Architect321.9×
  7. Singer731.8×
  8. Priest511.8×
  1. Football980.5×
  2. Politician1330.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Bologna's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

15001550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Art & Design
  • Sports
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Other
All1,915
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Showing 86 of 1,915 notable people

0015 POET

Giorgio Bassani

1916 - 2000

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0020 ACTOR

Rossano Brazzi

1916 - 1994

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0081 WRITER

Guido Morselli

1912 - 1973

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0121 ANARCHIST

Anteo Zamboni

1911 - 1926

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0142 FOOTBALL

Amedeo Biavati

1915 - 1979

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0153 CONDUCTOR

Francesco Molinari-Pradelli

1911 - 1996

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0156 SPRINT

Ondina Valla

1916 - 2006

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0187 WRITER

Manlio Cancogni

1916 - 2015

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0203 ACTOR

Silvio Bagolini

1914 - 1976

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0232 SCULPTOR

Luciano Minguzzi

1911 - 2004

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0251 MATHEMATICIAN

Lamberto Cesari

1910 - 1990

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0256 SPRINT

Claudia Testoni

1915 - 1998

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0266 ACTOR

Lina Gennari

1911 - 1997

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0326 SPORT

Marco Cimatti

1912 - 1982

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0393 COMPOSER

Luciano Sgrizzi

1910 - 1994

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0415 POET

Francesco Arcangeli (1915)

1915 - 1974

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0455 WRESTLER

Guido Fantoni

1919 - 1974

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0476 POLITICIAN

Giovanni Bersani

1914 - 2014

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0494 MUSIC

Mario Finzi

1913 - 1945

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0549 BASKET

Giancarlo Marinelli

1915 - 1987

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0574 ACTOR

Oscar Brazzi

1918 - 1998

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0577 JOURNALIST

Gian Carlo Testoni

1912 - 1965

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0582 LAWYER

Paolo Barile

1917 - 2000

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0585 SPRINT

Gabriele Salviati

1910 - 1987

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0587 ACTOR

Bruno Corelli

1918 - 1983

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0616 MUSIC

Otello Bignami

1914 - 1989

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0634 GEOLOGIST

Raimondo Selli

1916 - 1983

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0636 ARCHITECT

Enzo Zacchiroli

1919 - 2010

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0671 LINGUIST

Tristano Bolelli

1913 - 2001

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0696 PHILOSOPHER

Guido Fassò

1915 - 1974

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0707 JOURNALIST

Guglielmo Zucconi

1919 - 1998

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0710 FILM

Giorgio Walter Chili

1918 - 1961

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0765 ENTOMOLOGIST

Marta Grandi

1915 - 2005

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0784 RICERCA

Mario Pincherle

1919 - 2012

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0795 WRITER

Federico Zardi

1912 - 1971

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0808 JOURNALIST

Jader Jacobelli

1918 - 2005

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0827 PATRIOT

Irma Bandiera

1915 - 1944

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0840 BASKET

Venzo Vannini

1914 - 1998

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0850 BASKET

Gianfranco Bersani

1919 - 1965

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0861 SINGER

Norma Bruni

1913 - 1971

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0896 PAINTER

Ilario Rossi

1911 - 1994

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0897 FOOTBALL

Corrado Casalini

Born 1914

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0924 WRITER

Élisabeth Vailland

1916 - 1983

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0925 PHYSICIST

Bruno Ferretti

1913 - 2010

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0950 DISCUS THROWER

Ruggero Biancani

1915 - 1993

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0962 SINGER

Ariodante Dalla

1919 - 1966

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0996 WRITER

Gaetano Arcangeli

1910 - 1970

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1010 ACTOR

Arrigo Lucchini

1916 - 1984

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1068 COMPOSER

Mario Bertolazzi

1918 - 1986

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1085 THEOLOGIAN

Paolo Valori

1919 - 2003

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1135 PAINTER

Mario Bonazzi

1911 - 1994

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1201 PHYSICIST

Giampietro Puppi

1917 - 2006

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1225 FOOTBALL

Giorgio Bernardi

1912 - 1988

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1291 ARTIST

Vittorio Ugolini (pittore)

1918 - 2006

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1321 WRITER

Chino Alessi

1919 - 1996

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1403 OFFICER

Alberto Li Gobbi

1914 - 2011

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1432 COMPOSER

Walter Colì

Born 1919

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1446 FOOTBALL

Guido Mazzetti

1916 - 1997

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1510 BASKET

Gelsomino Girotti

Born 1914

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1528 MILITAR

Amedeo Parmeggiani

1918 - 1961

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1534 POLITICIAN

Luigi Gaiani

1910 - 2003

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1536 POET

Anna Leopardi

1918 - 2010

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1548 CONDUCTOR

Mario Traversa

1912 - 1997

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1558 AVIATORE

Giovanni Ghinazzi

1915 - 1986

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1567 DIPLOMAT

Raimondo Manzini (diplomatico)

1913 - 2010

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1579 SINGER

Ruggero Oppi

Born 1919

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1593 POLITICIAN

Giovanni Bottonelli

1910 - 1982

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1604 SCULPTOR

Rito Valla

1911 - 1991

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1606 AVIATORE

Aristide Sarti

1917 - 1945

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1724 JOURNALIST

Aldo Bardelli

1912 - 1971

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1729 ENTREPRENEUR

Carlo Borsari

1913 - 1997

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1739 FOOTBALL

Amedeo Degli Esposti

1916 - 2007

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1740 GUERRILLA

Giovanni Martini (partigiano)

1916 - 1944

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1755 ART HISTORIAN

Lidia Bianchi

1912 - 1998

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1758 ALPINISTA

Tita Secchi

1915 - 1944

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1774 BASKET

Diana Cenni

1917 - 1999

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1776 GUERRILLA

Mario Bastia

1915 - 1944

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1787 FOOTBALL

Adriano Minelli

1919 - 1997

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1818 LIUTAIO

Enrico Piretti

1911 - 1993

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1839 PRIEST

Guglielmo Gattiani

1914 - 1999

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1843 GUERRILLA

Otello Bonvicini

1914 - 1945

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1850 PSYCHOLOGIST

Luigi Meschieri

1919 - 1985

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1874 GUERRILLA

Libero Lossanti

1919 - 1944

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1884 BASKET

Athos Paganelli

Born 1914

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1885 MILITAR

Manfredi Mazzocca

1916 - 1945

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1907 BASKET

Bruno Pirazzoli

1913 - 1999

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