Greatest Italian contributions to the world ?

What is/are Italy's greatest contribution(s) to the world ?

  • Navigators (Marco Polo, C. Columbus, A. Vespucci, G. Caboto, G. Verrazzano ...)

    Votes: 3 60.0%
  • Painting & scuplture (Brunelleschi, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Botticelli, Caravaggio...)

    Votes: 4 80.0%
  • Italian literature (Dante Alighieri, Petrarca, Machiavelli, Eco...)

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Italian food (pasta, pizza, risotto...)

    Votes: 4 80.0%
  • Italian cinema

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The mechanical clock

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The telephone (invented by A. Meucci, not A.G. Bell)

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Optical glasses

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • The thermometer & barometer

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • Musical instruments (piano, violin, cello...)

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Classical music (Vivaldi, Albinoni, Puccini, Rossini, Verdi...)

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Modern music (Pavarotti, Morricone, Zucchero, Ramazzotti,...)

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • Italian sport cars (Ferrari, Bugatti, Maserati, Lamborghini...)

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • Italian fashion (Armani, Gucci, Prada, Versace...)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ice cream

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • Carnival

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Tarot cards

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5
In my view, Galileo is the greatest contribution to the world from Italy. How is he not on the list?

I agree. I voted Other and I specify Galileo. There were other Italians who contributed to science, but Galileo is arguably a primary founder of science as we know it. Not just Western science, since true science is entirely evidence driven, and therefore free from cultural context.
 
I have added a new poll as the old one got deleted during the move from vBulletin to Xenforo.
 
Many of these have been already mentioned but for starting list I would say:

Enrico Fermi - Inventor of the nuclear reactor and one of the several leading physicists behind the Manhattan project.
Ettore Majorana - Discoverer of the neutron.
Alessandro Volta - Inventor of the chemical battery and capacitor
Gallileo Ferraris - Inventor of three phase AC induction motor
Antonio Pacinotti - Inventor of the DC electric generator
Agostino Ramelli - Inventor of the hydraulic motor
Felice Matteucci/Eugenio Barsanti - Coinventors of the Barsanti-Matteucci Internal Combustion Engine
Giambattisti della Porta - Inventor of the telescope and perfected the Camera Obscura
Giovanni Felippo Ingrassia - Discoverer of Scarlet Fever
Mauro Picone - Discoverer of the Picone Identity
Leondardo Da Vinci - Highly influential Polymath/Engineer/Artist. First to coneptualize the helicopter, parachute and inventor of the dive suit as well as a clock that kept track of phases of the moon
Cristoforo Colombo - (Re)Discovered of America for the European world
Amerigo Vespucci - First to correctly interpret the discovery of the Americas as a novel and priorly yet unknown continent
Julius Caesar - Roman General and ruler; widely accepted as the greatest military strategist of the Western world
Scipio Africanus - Roman General widely renowned for defeating Hannibal Barca and conquering the Carthaginian trade empire
Marcus Aurelius - Emperor known for his astute rule of the Roman Empire, sound generalship and exemplary contributions to Stoic thought.
Vitruvius - Military Engineer of Julius Caesar and Architect of Augustus. First to document the creation of Roman concrete and it's unique properties of durable longevity.
Napolean Bonaparte - Military strategist, general and leader of the french revolutionary wars.
Gaius Marius - seven time Roman Consul and General known for the Marius Reforms which standardized and widely improved upon the equipment and logistics of the Roman Legions
Amadeo Avogadro - Scientist and discoverer of Avagadro's law.
Dante Alighieri - Highly influential poet, writer and philosopher. Considered the father of the modern Italian language.
Filippo Brunelleschi - Father of Renaissance architecture, inventor of the reverse gear drive and architect of Florence Cathedral.
Galileo Galilei - Widely considered the father of modern science, astronomer, early heliocentricst and created improvements upon the telescope.
Antonio Meucci - Inventor of the telephone who had created dozens of working prototypes before Graham Bell had even begun work on the idea.
Federico Faggin - Inventor of the microprocessor.

There are many more as I haven't even began to touch upon most artists and architects which are both fields Italians have historically dominated at in excellence. I also have left out the field of composers of which Venice has a particularly rich history in if I'm not mistaken. One interesting thing I find about Italy is that in nearly all time periods it remains a very strong intellectual contributor to the world in a variety of fields, regardless of how weak or strong its political dominance happens to be.
 
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