MILITARY PERSONNELS from Italy

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Italian Military Personnels of all time. This list of famous Italian Military Personnels is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Italian Military Personnels.

1. Cesare Borgia (1475 - 1507)

With an HPI of 75.71, Cesare Borgia is the most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 52 different languages on wikipedia.

Cesare Borgia (13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian cardinal and condottiero (mercenary leader), an illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and member of the Spanish-Aragonese House of Borgia. His fight for power was a major inspiration for The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. After initially entering the Church and becoming a cardinal on his father's election to the papacy, he resigned after the death of his brother in 1498. He served as a condottiero for King Louis XII of France around 1500, and occupied Milan and Naples during the Italian Wars. At the same time, he carved out a state for himself in Central Italy, but he was unable to retain power for long after his father's death. According to Machiavelli, this was not due to a lack of foresight, but his error in creating a new pope.

2. Germanicus (-15 - 19)

With an HPI of 72.34, Germanicus is the 2nd most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 57 different languages.

Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was an ancient Roman general and politician most famously known for his campaigns against Arminius in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the patrician gens Claudia. The agnomen Germanicus was added to his full name in 9 BC when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honor of his victories in Germania. In AD 4 he was adopted by his paternal uncle Tiberius, himself the stepson and heir of Germanicus' great-uncle Augustus; ten years later, Tiberius succeeded Augustus as Roman emperor. As a result of his adoption, Germanicus became an official member of the gens Julia, another prominent family, to which he was related on his mother's side. His connection to the Julii Caesares was further consolidated through a marriage between him and Agrippina the Elder, a granddaughter of Augustus. He was also the father of Caligula, the maternal grandfather of Nero, and the older brother of Claudius. During the reign of Augustus, Germanicus enjoyed an accelerated political career, entering the office of quaestor five years before the legal age in AD 7. He held that office until AD 11, and was elected consul for the first time in AD 12. The year after, he was made proconsul of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, and all of Gaul. From there he commanded eight legions, about one-third of the entire Roman army at the time, which he led against the Germanic tribes in his campaigns from AD 14 to 16. He avenged the Roman Empire's defeat in the Teutoburg Forest and retrieved two of the three legionary eagles that had been lost during the battle. In AD 17, he returned to Rome, where he received a triumph before leaving to reorganize the provinces of Asia Minor, whereby he incorporated the provinces of Cappadocia and Commagene in AD 18. While in the eastern provinces, Germanicus came into conflict with the governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. During their feud, Germanicus became ill in Antioch and died on 10 October AD 19. His death has been attributed to poison by ancient sources, but that was never proven. As a famous general, he was widely popular and regarded as the ideal Roman long after his death. To the Roman people, Germanicus was the Roman equivalent of Alexander the Great due to the nature of his death at a young age, his virtuous character, his dashing physique, and his military renown.

3. Nero Claudius Drusus (-38 - -9)

With an HPI of 70.47, Nero Claudius Drusus is the 3rd most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 46 different languages.

Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), commonly known in English as Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian but his mother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the stepson of her second husband, the Emperor Augustus. He was also brother of the Emperor Tiberius; the father of the Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus; paternal grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, and maternal great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero. Drusus launched the first major Roman campaigns across the Rhine and began the conquest of Germania, becoming the first Roman general to reach the Weser and Elbe rivers. In 12 BC, he led a successful campaign into Germania, subjugating the Sicambri. Later that year he led a naval expedition against Germanic tribes along the North Sea coast, conquering the Batavi and the Frisii, and defeating the Chauci near the mouth of the Weser. In 11 BC, he conquered the Usipetes and the Marsi, extending Roman control to the Upper Weser. In 10 BC, he launched a campaign against the Chatti and the resurgent Sicambri, subjugating both. The following year, while serving as consul, he conquered the Mattiaci and defeated the Marcomanni and the Cherusci, the latter near the Elbe. His Germanic campaigns were cut short in the summer of 9 BC by his death after a riding accident. Drusus was a very able commander. His death slowed the northward expansion of the Roman Empire, and foreshadowed the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. He was enormously popular among his men, who erected the Drususstein in his honor; his memory was elevated during the reign of his son Claudius. Drusus' accomplishments in battle were considerable. He fought numerous Germanic chiefs in single combat, and was likely the fourth and final Roman to achieve the spolia opima (for taking the armor and weapons of an enemy king after defeating them in single combat), though he died before he could be honored for it.

4. Andrea Doria (1466 - 1560)

With an HPI of 69.80, Andrea Doria is the 4th most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (Italian: [anˈdrɛːa ˈdɔːrja]; Ligurian: Drîa Döia [ˈdɾiːa ˈdɔːja]; 30 November 1466 – 25 November 1560) was an Italian statesman, condottiero, and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime. From 1528 until his death, Doria exercised a predominant influence in the councils of the Genoese republic, and was considered the foremost naval leader in Europe at his time. He became Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's grand admiral, a position he employed both to protect Genoa's independence and to maintain his own control over the city. He also acted as a privateer with the ships he owned in order to increase his wealth. His fleet helped secure the imperial naval lines between Spain and Italy, although he had a mixed success against the eminent threat of the Ottoman navy. As the ruler of Genoa, Doria reformed the Republic's constitution. Originally elected for life, the Doge's office was reduced to two years. At the same time, plebeians were declared ineligible, and the appointment of the doge was entrusted to the members of the great and the little councils. His reformed constitution of the Republic of Genoa would last until the end of the republic in 1797. Several ships were named in honour of the admiral, the most famous being the Italian passenger liner SS Andrea Doria, launched in 1951, which sank following a collision in 1956.

5. Gaius Julius Caesar (-135 - -85)

With an HPI of 69.42, Gaius Julius Caesar is the 5th most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Gaius Julius Caesar (; Latin: [ˈɡaːiʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar]; c. 140 BC – 85 BC) was a Roman senator, a supporter of his brother-in-law, Gaius Marius, and the father of Roman statesman Julius Caesar.

6. Bohemond I of Antioch (1054 - 1111)

With an HPI of 68.84, Bohemond I of Antioch is the 6th most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Bohemond I of Antioch (c. 1054 – 5 or 7 March 1111), also known as Bohemond of Taranto or Bohemond of Hauteville, was the prince of Taranto from 1089 to 1111 and the prince of Antioch from 1098 to 1111. He was a leader of the First Crusade, leading a contingent of Normans on the quest eastward. Knowledgeable about the Byzantine Empire through earlier campaigns with his father, he was the most experienced military leader of the crusade.

7. Matilda of Tuscany (1046 - 1115)

With an HPI of 67.56, Matilda of Tuscany is the 7th most famous Italian Military Personnel.  Her biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Matilda of Tuscany (Italian: Matilde di Toscana; Latin: Matilda or Mathilda; c. 1046 – 24 July 1115), or Matilda of Canossa (Italian: Matilde di Canossa [maˈtilde di kaˈnɔssa]), also referred to as la Gran Contessa ("the Great Countess"), was a member of the House of Canossa (also known as the Attonids) in the second half of the eleventh century. Matilda was one of the most important governing figures of the Italian Middle Ages. She reigned in a period of constant battles, political intrigues, and Roman Catholic excommunications. She was able to demonstrate an innate and skilled strategic leadership capacity in both military and diplomatic matters. She ruled as a feudal margravine and, as a relative of the imperial Salian dynasty, she brokered a settlement in the so-called Investiture Controversy. In this extensive conflict with the emerging reform Papacy over the relationship between spiritual (sacerdotium) and secular (regnum) power, Pope Gregory VII dismissed and excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in 1076. At the same time, Matilda came into possession of a substantial territory that included present-day Lombardy, Emilia, Romagna, and Tuscany. She made the Canossa Castle, in the Apennines south of Reggio, the centre of her domains. After his famous penitential walk in front of the Canossa (Latin: Canusia) Castle, In January 1077, Henry IV was accepted back into the church community by the Pope. The understanding between the Emperor and the Pope was short-lived, however. In the conflicts with Henry IV that arose a little later, from 1080 Matilda put all her military and material resources into the service of the Papacy. Her court became a refuge for many displaced persons during the turmoil of the investiture dispute and enjoyed a cultural boom. Even after the death of Pope Gregory VII in 1085, Matilda remained an important pillar of the Reform Church. Between 1081 and 1098, the Canossa rule fell into a major crisis due to the grueling disputes with Henry IV. The historical record is sparse for this time. A turning point resulted from Matilda forming a coalition with the southern German dukes, who were in opposition to Henry IV. In 1097, Henry IV retreated past the Alps to the northern portion of the Holy Roman Empire and a power vacuum developed in Italy. The struggle between regnum and sacerdotium changed the social and rulership structure of the Italian cities permanently, giving them space for emancipation from foreign rule and their own communal development. From autumn 1098, Matilda was able to regain many of her lost domains. Until the end she tried to bring the cities under her control. After 1098, she increasingly used the opportunities offered to her to consolidate her rule again. Since she was childless, in her final years Matilda developed her legacy by focusing her donation activity on the Polirone Abbey. The account of Donizo reports that between 6 and 11 May 1111, Matilda was crowned Imperial Vicar and Vice-Queen of Italy by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor at the Castle of Bianello (Quattro Castella, Reggio Emilia). With her death, the House of Canossa became extinct in 1115. Well into the thirteenth century, popes and emperors fought over what was called the "Matildine domains" as their rich inheritance. The rule of Matilda and her influence became identified as a cultural epoch in Italy that found expression in the flowering of numerous artistic, musical, and literary designs as well as miracle stories and legends. Her legacy reached its apogee during the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque Period. Pope Urban VIII had Matilda's body transferred to Rome in 1630, where she was the first woman to be buried in Saint Peter's Basilica.

8. Giovanni Giustiniani (1418 - 1453)

With an HPI of 66.53, Giovanni Giustiniani is the 8th most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Giovanni Giustiniani Longo (Greek: Ιωάννης Λόγγος Ιουστινιάνης, romanized: Iōánnēs Lóngos Ioustiniánēs; Latin: Ioannes Iustinianus Longus; 1418 – 1 June 1453) was a Genoese nobleman, mercenary captain, and defender of Constantinople during its siege in 1453. He was instrumental in its defense and commanded 700 men, as well as leading the land forces protecting the city.

9. Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (-229 - -160)

With an HPI of 65.66, Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus is the 9th most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 – 160 BC) was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and general, who conquered Macedon in the Third Macedonian War.

10. Roger de Flor (1267 - 1305)

With an HPI of 65.13, Roger de Flor is the 10th most famous Italian Military Personnel.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Roger de Flor (c. 1267 – 30 April 1305), also known as Ruggero/Ruggiero da Fiore or Rutger von Blum or Ruggero Flores, was an Italian military adventurer and condottiere active in Aragonese Sicily, Italy, and the Byzantine Empire. He was the commander of the Great Catalan Company and held the title Count of Malta.