Some notable Istrian Italians (from left to right): Vittorio Carpaccio, Santorio Santorio, Francesco Trevisani, Giuseppe Tartini, Giovanni Battista Piranesi & Nazario Sauro |
(Full biographies: Italian Biographies: Istria)
Brief biographies of some famous Istrian Italians, an indigenous ethnic group from Istria. The Istrian Italians have an illustrious history and have made notable contributions to culture, religion, military, politics, literature, arts, sciences and civilization, which should not be forgotten.
Istria is a historical region of Italy, but is today divided between Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. Towards the end of World War II the Istrian Italians were subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide by the Yugoslavs, who occupied the land and annexed it to Communist Yugoslavia in 1947. About 350,000 Italians from Dalmatia, Istria and the surrounding region of Julian Venetia were forced into exile after the war. Their homes and property were confiscated and their cities were occupied by the Yugoslavs. The Istrian Italians and their exiled descendants patiently await the return of their homeland to Italy.
• Silvano Abba - Italian pentathlete and soldier
• Andrea Amoroso - Italian patriot; founder of the Istrian Society of Archeology and History
• Andrea Antico da Montona - Italian music printer, editor, publisher, composer and priest
• Gianni Bartoli - Italian engineer and politician
• Matteo Giulio Bartoli - Italian linguist and philologist
• Felice Bennati - Italian politician and patriot
• Bernardo Benussi - Italian medieval historian
• Bartolomeo Biasoletto - Italian pharmacist, botanist and phycologist
• Francesco Bonifacio - Italian priest; killed in the Foibe Massacres
• Egidio Bullesi - Italian sailor and shipyard worker
• Gian Rinaldo Carli - Italian writer, economist, historian, politician and patriot
• Stefano Carli - Italian writer, poet and dramatist
• Benedetto Carpaccio - Italian painter
• Vittore Carpaccio - Italian painter
• Diego de Castro - Italian historian, teacher and statistician
• Giorgio Alberto Chiurco - Italian doctor, historian and politician
• Bartolomeo delle Cisterne - Italian architect and hydraulic engineer
• Carlo Combi - Italian teacher and patriot
• Norma Cossetto - Italian student; killed in the Foibe Massacres
• Luciano Delbianco - Italian politician, economist and electrical engineer
• Cesare Dell'Acqua - Italian painter
• Iolanda Dobrilla - Italian refugee and teenager; killed by Communist Partisans
• Aldo Fabbro - Italian footballer; died in the Allied Bombing of Pola
• Fabio Filzi - Italian soldier and patriot
• Carlo De Franceschi - Italian historian, writer, politician and patriot
• Girolamo de Franciscis - Italian bishop
• Fides Histriae Gambini - Italian exile; last descendant of the Gambini family of Capodistria
• Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini - Italian author, journalist, librarian and exile
• Pio Riego Gambini - Italian soldier, journalist, patriot and Mazzinian
• Girolamo Gravisi - Italian archaeologist, scholar and philologist
• Lucrezio Gravisi - Italian soldier; killed by the Turks in Dalmatia
• Nicolò Gravisi - Italian Marchese and captain of the guard
• Pietro Gravisi - Italian Marchese and commander; fought in the Battle of Lepanto
• Giovanni Grion - Italian soldier and patriot
• Carlotta Grisi - Italian ballerina
• Annibale Grisonio - Italian priest, inquisitor and canon lawyer
• Antonio Grossich - Italian physician and politician
• Antonio Ive - Italian linguist and ethnologist
• Domenico Lovisato - Italian geologist, academic and patriot
• Tomaso Luciani - Italian politician and patriot
• Antonio Madonizza - Italian lawyer, journalist and politician
• Giovanni Manzini - Italian lawyer and poet
• Bernardo Parentino - Italian painter
• Bonifacio di Parenzo - Italian bishop
• Giuseppe Picciola - Italian writer, teacher and patriot
• Francesco Piranesi - Italian engraver, etcher, architect and politician
• Laura Piranesi - Italian engraver and etcher
• Giovanni Battista Piranesi - Italian etcher, sculptor and architectural theorist
• Pietro Piranesi - Italian politician
• Luigi Pirano - Italian Franciscan and ecclesiastic
• Gennaro di Pola - Italian patriarch
• Pietro Polani - Italian crusader; Doge of Venice
• Giovanni Quarantotto - Italian poet, historian and patriot
• Donato Ragosa - Italian pharmacist and patriot
• Antonio Santin - Italian bishop
• Santorio Santorio - Italian physiologist, physician, professor and inventor
• Nazario Sauro - Italian sailor and patriot
• Cecilia Seghizzi - Italian composer, painter and teacher
• Augusto Cesare Seghizzi - Italian composer and choral conductor
• Bonifacio Sergi - Italian nobleman; founder of the House of Pola-Castropola
• Ernesto Sestan - Italian historian
• Antonio Smareglia - Italian composer
• Francesco Spongia - Italian composer, organist and priest
• Domenico del Tacco - Italian naval captain; commander in the Battle of Lepanto
• Antonio Tarsia - Italian baroque composer
• Giuseppe Tartini - Italian baroque composer and violinist
• Pietro Tradonico - Italian noble; Doge of Venice
• Angelo Trevisani - Italian painter and copperplate engraver
• Francesco Trevisani - Italian painter
• Umberto Urbani - Italian writer, translator, teacher and patriot
• Andrea da Valle - Italian architect
• Silvio Vardabasso - Italian geologist
• Pier Paolo Vergerio il Vecchio - Italian pedagogist, statesman and canon lawyer
• Licio Visintini - Italian naval lieutenant
• Mario Visintini - Italian pilot and fighter ace
• Biagio Zulian - Italian captain and war hero; killed by the Turks in Candia
• Vittorio Italico Zupelli - Italian general and politician
See also:
Famous Italians From Dalmatia
Famous Italians From Fiume and the Quarnaro
Famous Italians From Eastern Friuli