- Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace (December 2, 1946 - July 15, 1997) was an accomplished Italian designer of both clothing and theater costumes. He was influenced by Andy Warhol, Ancient Roman and Greek art as well as modern abstract art; he is considered one of the most colorful and talented designers of the late 20th century. Gianni was the founder of famous fashion tag Versace. The first boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate.
- Tommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella (September 5, 1568-May 21, 1639), baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet
- Gennaro Gattuso
Gennaro Ivan "Rino" Gattuso, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI, (born January 9 1978 in Corigliano Calabro) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer. His position is a defensive midfielder; however, he sometimes plays on the right side of midfield. He currently plays for A.C. Milan, with whom he won the UEFA Champions League in both the 2002/03 and 2006/07 seasons and "Serie A" in 2003/2004.
- Mattia Preti
Mattia Preti (february 24 1613 - January 3 1699) was a Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta.
- Simone Perrotta
Simone Perrotta, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI, (born September 17, 1977 in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer midfielder, who currently plays for A.S. Roma in Serie A. He was member of the Italian national football team that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Perrotta lived in England until the age of 6, attending school at St. Ann's primary school in Ashton-under-Lyne.
- Gianni Amelio
Gianni Amelio (born January 20, 1945 in San Pietro Magisano, Catanzaro, Calabria) is an Italian film director. He was a member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. He directed many highly acclaimed films such as "Stolen Children" (1990), "Lamerica" (1994) and "The Keys to the House" (2004).
- Joachim Of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore (c. 1135 -March 30, 1202), was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore (now Jure Vetere). He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist. His followers are called Joachimites.
- Mia Martini
Mia Martini, pseudonym of Domenica Bertè, was a popular and critically acclaimed Italian singer. Mia was born in 1947 in Bagnara Calabra (province of Reggio Calabria, southern Italy), but soon she moved to Rome with her sister (Loredana Bertè) and her friend Renato Zero. Both of them would eventually become successful singers too. She recorded her first records as Mimì Bertè, but she soon decided to change her name to the more appealing Mia Martini.
- Vincenzo Iaquinta
Vincenzo Iaquinta, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI, (born November 21, 1979 in Cutro, Crotone) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer. As many Calabrians in the 1980s his parents emigrated to Emilia-Romagna, in Northern Italy, because of better job opportunities. Prior to joining Udinese in 2000, Iaquinta played with his brother in the lower divisions for "Reggiolo" (1996-97), Padova (1998), and Castel di Sangro (1998-2000).
- Frankie Yale
Francesco Ioele (1893 - July 1, 1928), better known as Frankie Uale or the alias of Yale, was a Brooklyn gangster and original employer of Al Capone, before the latter moved to Chicago to start his own gang.
- Francesco Cozza
Francesco Cozza (1605-1682) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was born in Stilo in Calabria and died in Rome. He is best known for his expansive panegyric ceiling fresco, "Apotheosis of Pamphili House", in the library of Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona (1667-73). He also frescoed the Stanza del Fuoco in Palazzo Pamphili in Valmontone, 1658-59), where he worked along with Pier Francesco Mola, Gaspar Dughet, Mattia Preti, …
- Nicola Calipari
Nicola Calipari was an Italian SISMI military intelligence officer with the rank of Major General. Calipari was killed by United States soldiers while escorting a recently released Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, to Baghdad International Airport.
- Pasquale Carpino
Pasquale Carpino (1936-December 30, 2005) was a popular television chef in Toronto, Ontario and an operatic singer.
- Giuseppe Musolino
Giuseppe Musolino, better known as the "Brigante Musolino" or the "King of Aspromonte", was an Italian outlaw and folk hero. He was born in Santo Stefano in Aspromonte, Calabria, Italy on 24 September 1876 and died in Reggio Calabria on 22 January 1956.
- Loredana Bertè
Loredana Bertè is a popular Italian singer. In her long career she has worked with some of the best Italian songwriters such as Enrico Ruggeri, Pino Daniele, Ivano Fossati, Mario Lavezzi, and Mango, among others. She has experimented with different genres, from rock to reggae, from funk to pop. Bertè was a nude model before beginning her singing career. Her sister Mia Martini was also a singer.
- Guglielmo Pepe
Guglielmo Pepe (february 13, 1783 - august 8, 1855) was an Italian general and patriot. He was brother to Florestano Pepe and cousin to Gabriele Pepe. He married to Marianne Coventry, a Scottish woman.
- Alessandro Rosina
Alessandro Rosina (born January 31, 1984 in Belvedere Marittimo, Cosenza) is an Italian footballer, currently playing for Torino F.C. of Serie A. He was brought up in the Parma youth system, and then was loaned to Verona to gain experience. He moved back to Parma where he did not find an opportunity to impress, and was subsequently sold to Torino, where he became the driving force behind their 2005-2006 promotion campaign.
- Pasquale Galluppi
Pasquale Galluppi (2 April 1770 - 13 December, 1846) was an Italian philosopher.
- Tony Grande
Anthony William (Tony) Grande was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1987, as a member of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP).
- Nilus The Younger
Nilus the Younger or San Nilo di Rossano (910 - December 27, 1005) was an Italian saint.
- Pino Rauti
Giuseppe Umberto "Pino" Rauti (born in Cardinale near Catanzaro, 1926) has been a leading figure on the Italian far right for many years.
- Pope Zachary Zachary
Pope Saint Zachary (Greek "Zacharias"), pope (741-752). He came from a Greek family of Calabria. Most probably he was a deacon of the Roman Church and as such signed the decrees of the Roman council of 732; and was on intimate terms with Gregory III, whom he succeeded in 10th December 741. Zachary was a wise and subtle diplomat. Finding that his predecessor's alliance with the Lombard Duke of Spoleto was not protecting Papal cities against the Lombard king, …
- Florestano Pepe
Florestano Pepe (march 4, 1778 - april 3, 1851) was an Italian patriot. He was brother to the more famous general Guglielmo Pepe and cousin to Gabriele Pepe. Pepe was born in Squillace (Calabria) and entered the Two Sicilies army at young age. In 1799 he was amongst the defenders of the Neapolitan Republic. Defeated by the Bourbon troops under Cardinal Ruffo, he was captured and exiled to France.
- Erminio Blotta
Erminio Blotta (November 8, 1892 - January 23, 1976) was an Argentine sculptor of Italian origin. He was born in Morano Calabro (province of Cosenza, Calabria). His birth certificate records his name as Erminio Antonio Blotta Mainieri, but his Argentine identity papers have Carmen Erminio Blotta instead. Blotta's family came to his adoptive country when he was only a child, at the beginning of 1894, during a major wave of Italian immigration to Argentina.
- Ninetto Davoli
Ninetto Davoli (born October 11, 1948 in San Pietro a Maida, Calabria, Italy as Giovanni Davoli) is an Italian actor who became known through his roles in several of Pier Paolo Pasolini's films.
- Himerius Of Cremona
Himerius (Imier, Imerio) of Cremona (d. June 17, ca. 560), also known as Himerius of Amelia, was an Italian bishop. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. A native of Calabria, Himerius was a monk at Amelia before being appointed bishop there. He is described as having been an extremely austere, ascetic personality, both in regard to himself and others.
- Leonardo Vinci
Leonardo Vinci, not to be confused with Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian musical composer, best known for his operas. He was born at Strongoli (or Naples) and educated at Naples under Gaetano Greco in the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo. He first became known for his opera buffa in Neapolitan dialect in 1719; he also composed many opera seria. He was received into the Congregation of the Rosary at Formiello in 1728 and died by poisoning in 1730 -- not 1732, …
- Fabrizio Ruffo
Fabrizio Ruffo (September 16, 1744 - December 13, 1827) was a Neapolitan cardinal and politician.
- Pietro Calendino
Pietro Calendino is a Canadian provincial and municipal politician currently serving as a School Trustee in Burnaby, British Columbia. Calendino was born in Calabria, Italy but emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1959. He received a Honours B.A. and a M.A. (Languages) from the University of British Columbia. He received a teaching certificate from Simon Fraser University and has taught in secondary schools in Burnaby and Delta.
- Rocco Martino
Rocco Martino (born September 20, 1938) is an Italian secret agent. He was born in Tropea, province of Catanzaro. He played a major role in the fabrication and the dissemination of the Yellowcake Forgery, when he approached CIA Rome station chief Jeffrey W. Castelli with documents on Niger government letterhead describing secret plans for the sale of uranium to Iraq. Reportedly, Castelli dismissed the documents right off as forgeries, …
- Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina
Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (January 20, 1664 - January 6, 1718) was an Italian man of letters and jurist. He was born at Roggiano, a small town near Cosenza, in Calabria. He was descended from a distinguished family, and under the direction of his maternal uncle, Gregorio Caloprese, who possessed some reputation as a poet and philosopher, received a learned education, after which he studied at Naples civil and Canon law.
- Sebastiano Siviglia
Sebastiano Siviglia (born 29 March 1973 in Palizzi Marina) is an Italian football defender currently playing for S.S. Lazio in Italy.
- Michele Bianchi
Michele Bianchi (July 22 1883-February 3 1930) was an eminent Italian revolutionary syndicalist leader. He was among the founding members of the Fascist movement.
- Antipope John XVI
John XVI, born Johannes Philagathos, called by Latin chroniclers Piligato or Filagatto (died ca 1001) was an antipope from 997 to 998. Born at Rossano in the Byzantine territories of southern Italy, he was the chaplain of Theophanu, the Empress consort of Emperor Otto II (973–983), who had come from Constantinople. Twice he acted as Imperial chancellor in Italy for Otto II, in 980-982, whereupon he was appointed Abbot of Nonantola, and in 991-992.
- Giovanni Battista Zupi
Giovanni Battista Zupi or "Zupus" ("circa" 1590-1650) was an Italian astronomer, mathematician, and Jesuit priest. He was born in Catanzaro. In 1639, Giovanni was the first person to discover that the planet Mercury had orbital phases, just like the Moon and Venus. His observations demonstrated that the planet orbited around the Sun. This occurred just 30 years after Galileo's first telescope design, and Giovanni's was only slightly more powerful.
- Giovanni Leonardo di Bona
Giovanni Leonardo di Bona or Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri, known as Il Puttino (1542 - 1587) was an early Italian chess master. Giovanni Leonardo was born in Cutro, Calabria. He studied law in Rome. In 1560, he lost a match to Ruy López in Rome. In 1566-1572, he travelled and played chess in Rome, Genoa, Marseille, Barcelona. He had played many times against Paolo Boi in Italy and they were regarded as being equal in their chess strength.
- Louis J. Capozzoli
Louis Joseph Capozzoli (March 6, 1901 - October 8, 1982) was a United States Representative from New York. Born in Cosenza, Italy, he immigrated to the United States in 1906 and attended the public schools in New York City. In 1922 he graduated from the law department of Fordham University and in 1923 was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in New York City.
- Francis Of Paola
Saint Francis of Paola (or: Francescus de Paula, 1416 - April 2, 1507) was an Italian mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of the Minims.
- Luigi Cardinal Tripepi
Luigi Cardinal Tripepi was one of the most important Roman Catholic apologists of the 19th century.
- Nicolò Filotesio
Nicolò Filotesio was a Neapolitan painter and architect of the early 1500s. Born at Amatrice in Calabria. He completed works in Ascoli from 1514- 1535. He painted frescoes at Citta di Castello.