Most Famous Italian Explorers

Italy has produced 67 notable explorers throughout history, led by Christopher Columbus. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.

Category All
Citizenship All
CC
Christopher Columbus Italian Explorer 1451 – 1506
# 73
MP
Marco Polo Italian Explorer 1254 – 1324
# 168
UN
Umberto Nobile Italian Explorer 1885 – 1978
# 7,140
GD
Giovanni da Verrazzano Italian Explorer 1485 – 1528
# 7,332
AM
Antonio Meucci Italian Inventor 1808 – 1889
# 9,862
PL
Pier Luigi Nervi Italian Engineer 1891 – 1979
# 12,977
AM
Alessandro Malaspina Italian Explorer 1754 – 1809
# 26,506
CD
Corradino D'Ascanio Italian Engineer 1891 – 1981
# 71,216
LL
Lino Lacedelli Italian Explorer 1925 – 2009
# 80,305
GF
Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri Italian Explorer 1651 – 1725
# 94,051
SB
Scipione Borghese (10th Prince of Sulmona) Italian Explorer 1871 – 1927
# 102,707
AM
Alberto Maria de Agostini Italian Explorer 1883 – 1960
# 107,641
CM
Carlo Mauri Italian Explorer 1930 – 1982
# 108,429
GB
Giacomo Bove Italian Explorer 1852 – 1887
# 145,618
GC
Gaetano Casati Italian Explorer 1838 – 1902
# 171,424
GB
Giovanni Battista Antonelli Italian Engineer 1527 – 1588
# 173,897
GS
Germain Sommeiller Italian Engineer 1815 – 1871
# 203,170
LG
Luigi Giura Italian Engineer 1795 – 1865
# 225,485
AC
Alessandro Cruto Italian Inventor 1847 – 1908
# 242,027
BC
Bruno Cetto Italian Engineer 1921 – 1991
# 288,071