The Most Famous
SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from Italy
This page contains a list of the greatest Italian Social Activists. The pantheon dataset contains 840 Social Activists, 11 of which were born in Italy. This makes Italy the birth place of the 10th most number of Social Activists behind Iran, and South Africa.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Italian Social Activists of all time. This list of famous Italian Social Activists 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 Social Activists.
1. Ernesto Teodoro Moneta (1833 - 1918)
With an HPI of 68.05, Ernesto Teodoro Moneta is the most famous Italian Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 59 different languages on wikipedia.
Ernesto Teodoro Moneta (September 20, 1833 – February 10, 1918) was an Italian journalist, nationalist, revolutionary soldier and later a pacifist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He adopted the motto In varietate unitas! which later inspired the motto of the European Union. At age 15, Moneta participated in the Five Days of Milan (1848 uprising against Austrian rule). He later attended the military academy in Ivrea. In 1859 he joined Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand, and also fought in the ranks of the Italian army against the Austrians in 1866. Subsequently, he became an international peace activist. Between 1867 and 1896 he was editor of the Milan democratic paper Il Secolo, published by Edoardo Sonzogno. In 1890 he founded the Lombard Association for Peace and Arbitration (Unione Lombarda per la Pace e l'Arbitrato), which called for disarmament and envisaged the creation of a League of Nations and Permanent Court of Arbitration. He won (with Louis Renault) the Nobel Peace Prize in 1907.
2. Beatrice Cenci (1577 - 1599)
With an HPI of 65.98, Beatrice Cenci is the 2nd most famous Italian Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Beatrice Cenci (Italian: [beaˈtriːtʃe ˈtʃɛntʃi]; 6 February 1577 – 11 September 1599) was an Italian noblewoman imprisoned by her father, who repeatedly raped her. To escape the abuse and get away from the house, she killed him. The story of the murder and what led up to it shocked Europe. Despite outpourings of public sympathy, Beatrice Cenci was beheaded in 1599 after a lurid murder trial in Rome that gave rise to an enduring legend about her.
3. Errico Malatesta (1853 - 1932)
With an HPI of 64.48, Errico Malatesta is the 3rd most famous Italian Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.
Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expelled from Italy, Britain, France, and Switzerland. Originally a supporter of insurrectionary propaganda by deed, Malatesta later advocated for syndicalism. His exiles included five years in Europe and 12 years in Argentina. Malatesta participated in actions including an 1895 Spanish revolt and a Belgian general strike. He toured the United States, giving lectures and founding the influential anarchist journal La Questione Sociale. After World War I, he returned to Italy where his Umanità Nova had some popularity before its closure under the rise of Mussolini.
4. Fra Dolcino (1250 - 1307)
With an HPI of 64.35, Fra Dolcino is the 4th most famous Italian Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Fra Dolcino (c. 1250 – 1307) was the second leader of the Dulcinian reformist movement who was burned at the stake in Northern Italy in 1307. He had taken over the movement after its founder, Gerard Segarelli, had also been executed in 1300 on the orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Although the beliefs and spirituality of the Dulcinian sect were inspired by the teachings of Francis of Assisi, who had founded the Franciscan Order in 1210, their beliefs were condemned as heresy by the Catholic Church. The Papacy condemned their practices of poverty, liberty, and opposition to the feudal system.
5. Frank Costello (1891 - 1973)
With an HPI of 62.54, Frank Costello is the 5th most famous Italian Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Frank Costello (Italian: [koˈstɛllo]; born Francesco Castiglia [franˈtʃesko kaˈstiʎʎa]; January 26, 1891 – February 18, 1973) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. Born in Italy, he moved with his family to the United States as a child. As a youth he joined New York City gangs. Working with Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, Costello was involved in bootlegging operations during Prohibition. In 1929 they joined the National Crime Syndicate. From 1937, Costello was acting boss of the Luciano crime family. In the 1950s, he spent several years in prison for tax evasion. Costello retired in 1957 after he had survived an assassination attempt ordered by Vito Genovese.
6. Antipope Clement III (1025 - 1100)
With an HPI of 61.56, Antipope Clement III is the 6th most famous Italian Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.
Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna (c. 1029 – 8 September 1100) was an Italian prelate, archbishop of Ravenna, who was elected pope in 1080 in opposition to Pope Gregory VII and took the name Clement III. Gregory was the leader of the movement in the church which opposed the traditional claim of European monarchs to control ecclesiastical appointments, and this was opposed by supporters of monarchical rights led by the Holy Roman Emperor. This led to the conflict known as the Investiture Controversy. Gregory was felt by many to have gone too far when he excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and supported a rival claimant as emperor, and in 1080 the pro-imperial Synod of Brixen pronounced that Gregory was deposed and replaced as pope by Guibert. Consecrated as Pope Clement III in Rome in March 1084, he commanded a significant following in Rome and elsewhere, especially during the first half of his pontificate, and reigned in opposition to four successive popes in the anti-imperial line: Gregory VII, Victor III, Urban II, and Paschal II. After his death and burial at Civita Castellana in 1100 he was celebrated locally as a miracle-working saint, but Paschal II and the anti-imperial party soon subjected him to damnatio memoriae, which included the exhuming and dumping of his remains in the Tiber. He is considered an anti-pope by the Roman Catholic Church.
7. Beppe Grillo (b. 1948)
With an HPI of 60.26, Beppe Grillo is the 7th most famous Italian Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.
Giuseppe Piero "Beppe" Grillo (Italian: [ˈbɛppe ˈɡrillo]; born 21 July 1948) is an Italian comedian, actor, blogger, and politician. He has been involved in politics since 2009 as the co-founder (together with Gianroberto Casaleggio) of the Italian Five Star Movement political party. Grillo became one of the most prominent examples of the populist surge which arose in Europe during the 2010s.
8. Moses Montefiore (1784 - 1885)
With an HPI of 58.37, Moses Montefiore is the 8th most famous Italian Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, philanthropist and Sheriff of London. Born to an Italian Sephardic Jewish family based in London, after he achieved success, he donated large sums of money to promote industry, business, economic development, education and health among the Jewish community in the Levant. He founded Mishkenot Sha'ananim in 1860, the first Jewish settlement outside the Old City of Jerusalem. As President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, he corresponded with Charles Henry Churchill, the British consul in Damascus, in 1841–42; his contributions are seen as pivotal to the development of Proto-Zionism. Queen Victoria's chaplain, Norman Macleod said of Montefiore: "No man living has done so much for his brethren in Palestine as Sir Moses Montefiore". He stated in an interview in the 1860s that "Palestine must belong to the Jews".
9. Attica (-55 - -28)
With an HPI of 55.05, Attica is the 9th most famous Italian Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Attica (born ca 58–51 BC, perhaps died around 32–29 BC) was the daughter of Cicero's Epicurean friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. She was also the first wife of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, close friend of the emperor Augustus.
10. Franca Viola (b. 1948)
With an HPI of 53.50, Franca Viola is the 10th most famous Italian Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Franca Viola (born 9 January 1948) is a Sicilian woman who became famous in the 1960s in Italy for refusing a "rehabilitating marriage" (Italian: matrimonio riparatore) to her rapist after being kidnapped, held hostage for over one week, and raped frequently. She is considered to be the first Italian woman who had been raped to publicly refuse marriage. She and her family successfully prosecuted the rapist. The trial had a wide resonance in Italy, as Viola's behavior clashed with traditional social conventions in Southern Italy, whereby a woman would lose her honour if she refused to marry the man to whom she had lost her virginity. Franca Viola became a symbol of the cultural progress and emancipation of women in post-war Italy.
People
Pantheon has 12 people classified as Italian social activists born between 55 BC and 1948. Of these 12, 2 (16.67%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Italian social activists include Beppe Grillo, and Franca Viola. The most famous deceased Italian social activists include Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Beatrice Cenci, and Errico Malatesta. As of April 2024, 1 new Italian social activists have been added to Pantheon including Attica.
Living Italian Social Activists
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Ernesto Teodoro Moneta
1833 - 1918
HPI: 68.05
Beatrice Cenci
1577 - 1599
HPI: 65.98
Errico Malatesta
1853 - 1932
HPI: 64.48
Fra Dolcino
1250 - 1307
HPI: 64.35
Frank Costello
1891 - 1973
HPI: 62.54
Antipope Clement III
1025 - 1100
HPI: 61.56
Moses Montefiore
1784 - 1885
HPI: 58.37
Attica
55 BC - 28 BC
HPI: 55.05
Giuseppe Pinelli
1928 - 1969
HPI: 50.35
Giuseppe Impastato
1948 - 1978
HPI: 48.50
Newly Added Italian Social Activists (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Social Activists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 6 most globally memorable Social Activists since 1700.
