List of Italian inventions

A

• Amici roof prism invented by Giovan Battista Amici^[1]
• Amici prism invented by Giovan Battista Amici^[1]
• Anatomical theatre
• Anemometer developed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450.^[2]
• Automatic rifle the world’s first automatic rifle was the Italian Cei-Rigotti
• Arduino is an open source computer hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control objects in the physical world. It is now becoming an essential component for building AI Robots. It was created in 2003.

B

• Ballet invented and performed for the first time in Florence during the Italian Renaissance^[3]
• Ballistics the discipline of ballistics was initially studied and developed by Italian mathematician Niccolo Tartaglia^[4]
• Bank, the Bank of San Giorgio opened for business in Genoa, Italy in 1149^[5][6]
• Barometer invented by Evangelista Torricelli in 1643
• Electrochemical battery constructed by Alessandro Volta in 1800.^[7][8]
• Barsanti-Matteucci engine the first working internal combustion engine
• Botanical garden The world's first was founded in Pisa in 1543.^[9]

C

• Antonio Meucci Candle made of stearic acid, successive to introduction of paraffin wax candles.
• Caprotti valve gear a vale design used in many steam locomotives
• Carbon paper Invented by Pellegrino Turri in 1806^[10]
• 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.^[11]
• Cephalosporins antibiotics. Discovered by Giuseppe Brotzu in 1948.^[12]
• Codex the precursor of modern books, invented during Roman times^[13]
• Connecting rod a device invented by Roman engineers to transform circular motion into linear motion

D

• Dentures the first dentures were developed by the Etruscans in 700 BC^[14]
• Desktop computer, the Programma 101, which some consider the first Desktop computer, was designed by a small team led by Pier Giorgio Perotto of Olivetti, between 1962 and 1964 and launched in 1965^[15][16]
• Dipleidoscope invented by Giovan Battista Amici.^[17]
• 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^[18]
• 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.^[19]
• Doxorubicin a chemotherapy agent invented by Farmitalia Spa in the 1950s.^[20]
• D-Shape a new 3D printer capable of printing entire buildings invented in 2004 by Enrico Dini ^[21]

E

• Eau de Cologne (perfume) developed by Johann Maria Farina in 1709^[22]
• e.DO the first personal robot ^[23]
• Electroplating a manufacturing technique invented by Luigi Brugnatelli in 1805.^[24]
• Energy catalizer a purported cold fusion device invented by Andrea Rossi and awarded an Italian patent (#0001387256)and also US patent 9,115,913.
• Epidemiology. This discipline was created by Girolamo Fracastoro in the mid 16th century.^[25]
• Espresso machine, first prototype invented by Angelo Moriondo in 1884 in Turin.^[26]
• Espresso machine (piston driven model) invented by Achille Gaggia in 1945.^[27]
• Eyeglasses invented in Italy in 1286, inventor unknown

F

• Fairchild 3708, Federico Faggin also designed the world's first commercial integrated circuit using Silicon Gate Technology with self aligned MOSFET transistors ^[28]
• Falcon (programming language) invented in 2003 by Giancarlo Niccolai.
• Film festival Founded as Esposizione d’Arte Cinematografica, the Venice Film Festival was established in 1932.^[29]
• Forlanini helicopter - first engine-powered helicopter. A steam powered helicopter which first flew in 1877, designed by Enrico Forlanini in Milan.

G

• Galleon invented in the early 16th century by the Venetians and later spread to Iberian Peninsula.^[30]
• Giro

H

• Herbarium The first collection of plants classified under scientific methods was established in Bologna in 1534 by Luca Ghini^[31]
• Hydrofoil, developed by Enrico Forlanini in 1900
• Hyper Search a type of web search engine invented in 1997 by Massimo Marchiori, it made Google possible ^[32]

^[33]

I

• Induction motor Invented by Galileo Ferraris (Nikola Tesla developed a similar invention around the same time)^{[34][35][36][37][38][39][40]}
• Intel 4004, designed and built by Federico Faggin who etched his initials "FF" on a corner of the chip prototype as his signature ^[41][42]

J

• Jacuzzi Spa, invented by Candido Jacuzzi
• Jeans, originated from the City of Genoa (hence the name)
• Jumping position in horsemanship, developed by Federico Caprilli

L

• LARES, a satellite developed in Italy and launched in 2012
• Latin alphabet, derived from the Greek alphabet; became the foundation of many languages worldwide
• Lazaret (quarantine station), the first was founded by the Republic of Venice in 1403, on a small island in the Venetian lagoon
• Liposuction, medical procedure invented by Dr Giorgio Fischer in 1974

M

• Medical thermometer, invented by Sanctorius in the early 1600s.
• Microscopic anatomy and histology, pioneered by Marcello Malpighi in the 1660s.
• Mile, a unit of distance based on the distance covered in 1,000 steps by a Roman legionnaire.
• Milestone, Romans came up with this invention to measure the distances of the roads.
• Miter gates, on a Canal lock in a canal, gates that remain closed by the pressure of the water itself; invented by Leonardo Da Vinci and still used today in all canals worldwide such as the Panama canal.
• Moka pot
• Montessori education, developed by Maria Montessori in 1907.
• Monopole antenna invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895.
• Moon Boot, created in 1970 by Italian company Tecnica.
• Mountain Troops, as a modern concept of troops specialized in sustaining mountain warfare; created in 1872 when the first 15 Alpini companies were officially issued by Kingdom of Italy Royal Decree n. 1056, October 15, 1872.
• Motorways, as a controlled access highway that directly connects two cities: Autostrada Milano-Varese in 1924.

N

• Newspaper, the first newspaper started circulating in Venice in 1563
• Nitroglycerin, first synthesized by Ascanio Sobrero in 1847
• Nuclear reactor, first working nuclear reactor was constructed by Enrico Fermi
• Nutella, spread made from cocoa, hazelnuts and palm oil; created by the Ferrero firm in 1964

O

• Ocarina, musical instrument invented by Giuseppe Donati
• Opera, the earliest opera composition was Dafne written around 1597 by Jacopo Peri
• Opera House, the first public opera house was the "Teatro San Cassiano" opened in Venice in 1637 and survived until 1800.^[43]

P

• Paddle boat, first designed by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s^[44]
• 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^[45]
• Parachute, dates back to the Renaissance Italy
• Personal Computer (in a broad sense, not referring to the modern IBM PC compatible architecture), due to the pioneering work of Pier Giorgio Perotto
• 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.^[46]
• Piano, a musical instrument invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1709.
• Piezoelectric surgery was developed by Tomaso Vercellotti^[47]
• Pistol, First handheld guns were created in the city of Pistoia around 1540.
• Pizzeria First established in 1738 as a stand for peddlers, Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba was opened in 1830 in Naples.^[48]
• Porro prism invented by Ignazio Porro
• Polypropylene was discovered by Giulio Natta and began to be manufactured in 1957.
• Pretzel, is generally credited to an Italian monk who invented them in 610 A.D. to reward children who learned their prayers.

Q

• Quick release skewer (attaching a wheel to a bicycle) invented by Tullio Campagnolo in 1927

R

• Radio, developed as a communication medium by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895
• Reggio Emilia approach, education method
• Rifampicin an antibacterial drug discovered by a team led by Prof. Piero Sensi at Lepetit Pharmaceuticals in 1957 in Milan, Italy

S

• San Marco 1 Italy was the third country, after the Soviet Union and the United States to successfully launch a satellite, in 1964
• Science academy The first scientific society was the Academia Secretorum Naturae founded in Naples in 1560 by the polymath Giambattista della Porta^[49]
• 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^[50]
• 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
• Stock Exchange the first stock exchange was created by Northern Italian Merchants in Bruges, Belgium in 1309 in an inn called "Huis ter Beurze" which belonged to the Ter Bourse (della Borsa) family, which were Venetian merchants who had a warehouse in Bruges and conducted transactions at the inn ^{[51] [52]}

The term bourse is derived from the 13th-century inn named "Huis ter Beurze" (center) in Bruges. From Dutch-speaking cities of the Low Countries, the term 'beurs' spread to other European states where it was corrupted into 'bourse', 'borsa', 'bolsa', 'börse', etc. In England, too, the term ‘bourse’ was used between 1550 and 1775, eventually giving way to the term ‘royal exchange’.

• Strimvelis the first ex-vivo stem cell gene therapy to treat patients with a very rare disease called ADA-SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency due to Adenosine Deaminase deficiency). The treatment was developed at San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget), in Milan Italy. Strimvelis was approved in Europe on May 27, 2016 for the treatment of human patients.

T

• Tensor calculus, invented by mathematicians Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro and Tullio Levi-Civita.^[53]
• Galileo thermometer, invented by Galileo Galilei in 1593.
• Toffoli gate a universal reversible logic gate invented by Tommaso Toffoli
• Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) First recorded clinical application by Giovanni Aldini in 1803^[54][55]
• Tontine a form of life insurance developed by Lorenzo De Tonti in 1653
• Trimprob used for the electromagnetic detection of cancerous tissue was developed in 1992 by Italian engineer Clarbruno Vedruccio.
• Triumphal Arch, the first recorded triumphal arches were set up in the time of the Roman Republic.^[56]
• Typewriter - early versions were developed in Italy just after 1800.

V

• Vega (rocket) Italy had the lead in this program (65%) which produced an extremely fast vector to bring light payloads into orbit. First Launch was in 2012.
• 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
• Vibram FiveFingers a type of shoe invented in 1999 by Robert Fliri.
• 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.
• Galileo Hydrostatic Weighing Scale it is a weight measuring device that uses hydraulic counterforce of a liquid, usually water or oil, to determine weight of an object under Archimedes' principle. Nowadays is mainly used in hydraulic types of weighbridges. Its functioning principles were first described by Galileo Galilei in 1586.

Z

• Zamboni pile - early electric battery^[57]
• Ziegler-Natta catalyst, catalyst to produce polymers co-invented by Giulio Natta^[58]

Other Significant Italian Innovations

• Roman Law which is the foundation for the Law of many countries.
• Runic alphabet: the runic alphabet was based on Old Italic script.

Italian Military Innovations

• Air supremacy theorized in 1921 by general Giulio Douhet with the book "The Command of the Air", ("Il Dominio dell'Aria").
• The first use of airplanes in aerial warfare, airstrike, aerial reconnaissance in an actual war occurred in the 1911 Italo-Turkish War with the Italian Army Air Corps conducting reconnaissance missions by airplane and bombing a Turkish camp at Ain Zara, Libya^[59]
• Fabian strategy. A guerrilla-warfare strategy first impelemented by Quintus Fabius Maximus "Cunctator" in 217 BC^[60]
• Frogmen - The first modern frogmen were the World War II Italian commando frogmen.
• Marine infantry as modern concept of armed troops for defending ships in combat, repel mutinies, and perform organized military landings were created in vicerealm of Naples in 1537, by Spain King Carlos I, Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles, and subsequently in Republic of Venice, Fanti da mar in 1550. Their heritage is keep by Italian elite troops San Marco Regiment.
• Mountain warfare with the creation of Alpini troops in 1872.
• The first true paratroop drop was by Italy in November 1927

Italian contributions to music

• Italo dance a style of music popular in the 1970-1980s
• Italo disco a style of music popular in the 1980s
• Italo house a style of music popular in the late 1980s
• Opera