Salvino D'Armati

Salvino D'Armati (or "son of Armato") of Florence is credited with inventing eyeglasses sometime in the thirteenth century, perhaps around 1284. Although there is some doubt as to the authenticity of this claim, Leopoldo del Migliore stated in his 1684 history of Florence that a memorial honoring D'Armati at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore bore the inscription: Here lies Salvino degl' Armati, son of Armato of Florence, inventor of eyeglasses. May God forgive his sins. A.D. 1317. However, this tomb no longer exists, and this claim has not been verified.

Alessandro Spina of Pisa, a Dominican friar, is sometimes also credited with the invention. However, Spina most likely learned to make spectacles after seeing them made by another individual, a talent for which he was famous at the time. To this day, there is doubt as to the identity of the inventor. However, spectacles were almost certainly invented between 1280 and 1300 in Italy.

The earliest eyeglasses were for the correction of hyperopia (farsightedness). These eyeglasses did not have arms, but perched on the bridge of the nose. Arms were not introduced till the 1600s. Eyeglasses to correct myopia (nearsightedness) were not invented until the fifteenth century.