The Italians have invented a number of brilliant things we use and enjoy today. How many of these Italian inventions do you know?
Pizza is hands down the most beloved Italian invention, becoming one of the most favorite food across the globe. And it is just one of the many contributions of this beautiful Southern European country to the world.
But you already knew that, didn’t you?
You may also know that pasta, gelato, espresso, Jacuzzi, and the cello are Italian inventions as well – Italy’s truly amazing gifts to mankind.
But how about the things you didn’t know we had the Italians to thank for?
Brilliant Italian Inventions
We have compiled a list of brilliant Italian inventions we enjoy today. Read on to find out 12 things that the Italians invented.
1. Breadstick
Breadsticks or dripping sticks are called “grissini” in Italian. These are crisp stick-shaped roll of dry baked bread, about the size of a pencil.
Breadsticks are believed to be invented in Turin, Italy, in the 17th century by a baker named Antonio Brunero. This bread was intentionally made to be easily digested for Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, who’d had digestive problems as a child.
2. Pretzel
Pretzel, the oldest snack food known, is an Italian invention? Amazing.
According to legend, an Italian monk in Northern Italy invented this folded strips of bread in 610 AD to reward the young kids for learning their prayers. Pretzels were made to resemble the crossed arms of praying children.
The monk named his invention “pretiola,” which meant “little rewards.”
3. Bank
Here’s another important Italian invention.
The development of a banking system is attributed to medieval and early Renaissance Italy, particularly the opulent cities of Florence, Genoa, and Venice.
The Medici Bank, founded by Giovanni Medici in 1397, was the best-known Italian bank.
The first known state deposit bank, the Banco di San Giorgio, opened in 1407 in Genoa, Italy. It was closed in 1805, when Napoleon suppressed independent banks after his invasion of Italy.
Until 2019, the oldest bank in existence was the Banco di Napoli, established in 1463 in Naples, Italy. Today the title belongs to Siena’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which has been in operation since 1472.
4. Precursor of the Eyeglasses
While the Romans discovered the ability to use glass in enhancing one’s ability to see small text which led to their creation of small magnifying glasses with spheres, today’s eyeglasses cannot exactly be claimed as an Italian invention.
In fact, is not known who first invented the wearable glasses that appeared in the 13th-century Italy, which are evident in early Renaissance paintings.
The first eyeglasses were created out of glass-blown lenses set into frames made of wood, leather, and sometimes even animal horn. To use these eyeglasses, one had to hold them before the face or perch them on the nose.
These early eyeglasses were commonly used by monks, but they became popular as technology improved through the Renaissance, spreading throughout Europe.
Eyeglasses at the time were popularly used by scholars and were mostly available to the wealthy, thus, becoming status symbols of intelligence and riches.
5. Liposuction
Liposuction, a technique in cosmetic surgery for remodeling the body contour, is done by removing excess fat from under the skin through suction.
You probably weren’t aware this was an Italian invention, were you? I wasn’t!
The modern liposuction technique is attributed to father and son cosmetic surgeons of Rome – Arpad and Giorgio Fischer. They introduced the blunt tunnelling technique in 1975, from which modern liposuction evolved. This technique used rotating scalpels to break up fat, which was then suctioned out by a tube.
A safe, simple, and effective body-contouring method, it’s no surprise liposuction is one of the most popular aesthetic surgery procedures today. A truly brilliant Italian invention that so many women (and men) today are so thankful for.
6. Newspaper
Did you know that the first newspaper was handwritten? And that it was an Italian invention?
The oldest handwritten newsletters circulated widely in the mid-16th century in Venice, Italy. They were used to deliver political, military, and economic news throughout Europe until the 1700s.
Reporters at the time often wrote the news sheets anonymously, which were then delivered through a complex system of couriers.
7. Radio
In the early 1890s, a young Italian named Gugliemo Marconi began working on the idea of “wireless telegraphy.” He wanted to transmit telegraph messages without connecting wires as employed by the electric telegraph.
In 1895, Marconi’s idea became a reality, when he invented what he called “the wireless telegraph” in his parents’ attic. This invention later became known as the radio.
Marconi patented this invention in 1896. In 1901, he transmitted the first signal to America from Europe, crossing the Atlantic.
8. Barometer
Air pressure is an indicator of weather. Air has a weight; and as gravity pulls it to Earth, it presses against everything it touches. This pressure is measured by barometers, which meteorologists use to forecast short-term changes in the weather.
The mercury barometer, the oldest type of this instrument, was invented in 1643 by Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian physicist and mathematician. It was known as the “Torricelli’s tube.”
Incidentally, Torricelli’s countryman, astronomer and fellow mathematician Gasparo Berti, had constructed a water barometer around the same time.
9. Thermometer
The Italian physician, Santorio Santorio, deemed the father of experimental physiology, produced the first recorded thermometer in the 16th century. This invention was improved upon by many other scientists after him.
Santorio is also noted for the famous “weighing chair” that he built and used during his experiment on metabolism – the so-called perspiratio insensibilis or insensible perspiration of the body.
10. Battery
The use of the term “battery” was attributed to the American scientist and inventor Benjamin Franklin, who first used it in 1749.
The first true battery, however, is an Italian invention. It was invented about half a century later by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. He created it by stacking discs of copper and zinc separated by cloth drenched with salty water. This invention became known as the voltaic pile, for which Napoleon made Volta a count.
In 1812, another Italian, Giuseppe Zamboni, invented an early electric battery similar to the voltaic pile. This was known as the Zamboni pile. A pair of these are said to power the famous Oxford Electric Bell, which has been ringing incessantly since 1840.
11. Ballet
The word “ballet” is French, but did you know that it had Italian origins? It was derived from “balletto,” which is a diminutive of the Italian word for “dance” – “ballo.”
The origin of ballet can be traced back to the 15th-century Italian Renaissance courts. Catherine de’ Medici introduced it to the French and her influence as queen consort of France made ballet popular there.
Ballet was later developed into a concert dance form not only in France but in Russia as well – another Italian invention that has spread globally.
12. Piano
The piano was invented by an Italian maker of musical instruments, Bartolomeo Cristofori, in the year 1700.
This popular musical instrument was actually first named “clavicembalo col piano e forte,” a name which, in Italian, literally translates to “a harpsichord that can play soft and loud noises.” The name suggests “Italian invention,” however, not everyone is aware of the fact. It was called “pianoforte” for short, which was again shortened to how we call it now.
Today, the term pianoforte is sometimes used to refer to antique pianos.