Italy has been the source of many significant inventions. The following inventions and discoveries were made by people that lived in the geographical region of Italy or were made by Italians.
An alphabetical list of Italian inventions
A
The inclusion of certain items in this list is currently being disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the article's talk page. (September 2015)
Airbag safety suit for motorbike raiders called D-Air, introduced in races in 2008 by Dainese manufacturing company.
Cardan suspension of a gimbal is named after the Italian inventor Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576), who described the device in detail. This device made inertial navigation possible.
Centrifugal Pump the first machine that could be characterized as a centrifugal pump was a mud lifting machine that appeared as early as 1475 in a treatise by the Italian Renaissance engineer Francesco di Giorgio Martini.[13]
Dollying to move a camera on a dolly, esp. toward or away from the subject being filmed or televised Giovanni Pastrone first used this method in 1914
Doppio Borgato, a musical instrument which is a variation of the piano[20]
Double-entry bookkeeping system, invented in the mercantile city-states of medieval Italy and first documented by Lucas de Burgo in Venice. Perfected by Amatino Mannucci in the 14th century.[21]
Mile, a unit of distance based on the distance covered in 1,000 steps by a Roman legionnaire
Milestone The Romans came up with this invention to measure the distances of the roads.
Miter gates kind of gates of a Canal lock in a canal, that remain closed by the pressure itself of the water, were invented by Leonardo Da Vinci and still used today in all canals worldwide such as in Panama canal. It is the only one amongst inventions of Leonardo ever realized (others are Parachute, Tank and Vite Aerea, that is a primitive basic design of a Helicopter).
Moon Boot created in 1970 by Italian company Tecnica
Mountain Troops as modern concept of troops specialized in sustaining mountain warfare were created in 1872 when the first 15 Alpini companies were officially issued by Kingdom of Italy Royal Decree n. 1056, October 15, 1872.
Opera House, the first public opera house was the "Teatro San Cassiano" opened in Venice in 1637 and survived until 1800.[41]
P
Paddle boat, first designed by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s[42]
Pantelegraph, a device for telegraphic transmission of writing and drawing invented by Giovanni Caselli. Commercial service started in 1865. It was the first functional Fax Machine to enter commercial service[43]
Perspective Linear perspective was first invented by Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi, in Florence, who created a system that helped show how objects shrink in size according to their distance from the eye.[44]
Piano, a musical instrument invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1709.
Shopping Center The earliest example of public shopping mall was the Trajan's Market in Ancient Rome built around 100-110 AD by Apollodorus of Damascus.
Stem cells as vectors for Gene Therapy: In 1992 Doctor Claudio Bordignon working at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy performed the first procedure of gene therapy using hematopoietic stem cells as vectors to deliver genes intended to correct hereditary diseases[48]
Star fort It was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy
Stiletto, a type of narrow dagger which appeared in the Middle Ages
Vespa On 23 April 1946, at 12 o'clock in the central office for inventions, models and makes of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in Florence, Piaggio e C. S.p.A. took out a patent for a "motorcycle of a rational complexity of organs and elements combined with a frame with mudguards and a casing covering the whole mechanical part". This design became one of the most popular motoscooters worldwide and is still in production.
Vibram - Vitale Bramani is credited with inventing the first rubber lug soles for shoes in 1937
Violin, four stringed, the name of the inventor is unknown, but the instrument appeared in renaissance Italy.
W
Watermark This medieval innovation was first introduced in Fabriano, Italy, in 1282.
Welfare The earliest form of welfare was the lex frumentaria instituted by the tribune Gaius Gracchus dating back to 122 B.C., a law that ordered Rome’s government to supply its citizens with allotments of cheaply priced grain.
^ abRonchi, Vasco (1970). "Amici, Giovan Battista". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 135-137. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.
^Invention of the Meteorological Instruments, W.E. Knowles Middleton, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1969
^Niccolo' Tartaglia, Nova Scientia, 1537. (a treatise on gunnery and ballistics).
^Edward D."Banking During the Middle Ages" Encyclopedia of Medieval World, vol.1.
^Giuseppe Felloni and Guido Laura, "Genoa and the history of finance: A series of firsts?" 9th November 2004, ISBN 88-87822-16-6
^Dante Bini (2009); A cavallo di un soffio d'aria, L'architettura autoformante, Guerini e Associati editore ISBN 88-6250-172-2
^Bossi, Enea (12 1960). "A man has flown by his own power in 1937". Canadian Aeronautical Journal 6 (10): 395–399
^Attlee, 2006: 46. The University of Pisa claims that its botanical garden was founded in 1543 and that of Padua, the Orto Botanico di Padova, was founded in 1545, giving them the oldest garden, Attlee, Helena. Italian Gardens - A Cultural History, Francis Lincoln Limited Publishers, 2006
^Adler, Michael H. (1973) The writing machine (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.)
^Reti, Ladislao; Di Giorgio Martini, Francesco (Summer 1963). "Francesco di Giorgio (Armani) Martini's Treatise on Engineering and Its Plagiarists". Technology and Culture. 4 (3): 287–298 (290). doi:10.2307/3100858.
^Podolsky, M. Lawrence (1998) Cures Out of Chaos: How Unexpected Discoveries Led to Breakthroughs in Medicine and Health, Harwood Academic Publishers
^Roberts, Colin H; Skeat, TC (1983). The Birth of the Codex. London: British Academy. pp. 15–22. ISBN 0-19-726061-6.
^The inventions that changed the world, Reader's Digest (1982) [Portuguese edition of 1983]
^[1], Olivetti Programma 101 "Perottina", December 18, 2013.
^"Desk-Top Size Computer Is Being Sold by Olivetti For First Time in US". Wall Street Journal. October 15, 1965.
^Ronchi, Vasco (1970). "Amici, Giovan Battista". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.
^Larry E. Ashley, Pierce Piano Atlas, 12th edition, Larry E. Ashley Publisher, Albuquerque, NM U.S.A., 2008, p.58.
^Wells, Frederick V.; Billot, Marcel (1981). Perfumery Technology. Art, science, industry. Chichester: Horwood Books. pp. 25, 278. ISBN 0-85312-301-2
^Mohler, James B. (1969). Electroplating and Related Processes. Chemical Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8206-0037-7.
^On Contagion, Contagious Diseases and Their Cure (1546) by Girolamo Fracastoro (1478-1553)
^"Bollettino delle privative industriali del Regno d’Italia", 2nd Series, Volume 15, Year 1884, pages 635 – 655
^Pendergrast, Mark (2001) [1999]. Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. London: Texere. p. 218. ISBN 1-58799-088-1.
^Alternating currents of electricity: their generation, measurement, distribution, and application by Gisbert Kapp, William Stanley, Jr.. Johnston, 1893. Page 140. [cf., This direction has been first indicated by Professor Galileo Ferraris, of Turin, some six years ago. Quite independent of Ferraris, the same discovery was also made by Nikola Tesla, of New York; and since the practical importance of the discovery has been recognized, quite a host of original discoverers have come forward, each claiming to be the first.]
^Larned, J. N., & Reiley, A. C. (1901). History for ready reference: From the best historians, biographers, and specialists; their own words in a complete system of history. Springfield, Mass: The C.A. Nichols Co.. Page 440. [cf., At about the same time [1888], Galileo Ferraris, in Italy, and Nikola Tesla, in the United States, brought out motors operating by systems of alternating currents displaced from one another in phase by definite amounts and producing what is known as the rotating magnetic field.]
^The Electrical engineer. (1888). London: Biggs & Co. Pg., 239. [cf., "[...] new application of the alternating current in the production of rotary motion was made known almost simultaneously by two experimenters, Nikola Tesla and Galileo Ferraris, and the subject has attracted general attention from the fact that no commutator or connection of any kind with the armature was required."]
^Galileo Ferraris, "Electromagnetic rotation with an alternating current," Electrican, Vol 36 [1885]. pg 360-75.
^Homans, Isaac Smith; Dana, William B. (1862). "Recent Italian inventions". Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review. Vol. 46. F. Hunt. p. 194. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
^[4], NYT, "Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions".
