FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Italians Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Italians Quizzes, Trivia

Italians: Famous & Historical Trivia

Italians: Famous & Historical Trivia Quizzes

  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. People Trivia
  6. »
  7. People by Country

Fun Trivia
10 quizzes and 100 trivia questions.
1.
  Renaissance Men: Pick the Artists!   popular trivia quiz  
Collection Quiz
 10 Qns
Even those who do not know much about famous Italians are likely to have heard the names of some of the great artists of the Renaissance. Not all the gentlemen on this list, however, are known for their skill in the visual arts!
Average, 10 Qns, LadyNym, Aug 16 24
Average
LadyNym gold member
Aug 16 24
292 plays
2.
  Festa Italiana   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
You are at a very Italian party for Italians only (even though you may not be). At this party are famous Italians (and others) from throughout history. Can you identify who is there (or not supposed to be!)?
Average, 10 Qns, George95, Aug 11 24
Average
George95 gold member
Aug 11 24
5207 plays
3.
Henrys Whos Who in Rome
  Henry's Who's Who in Rome   top quiz  
Photo Quiz
 10 Qns
Henry's here! Some of you may know that I recently went to Rome (c. 1490's) with my lord, the Earl of Warwick. Can you identify the people I met while visiting?
Average, 10 Qns, ponycargirl, Sep 17 18
Average
ponycargirl editor
Sep 17 18
536 plays
4.
Time For A Rebirth
  Time For A Rebirth!   top quiz  
Photo Quiz
 10 Qns
The Renaissance was a rebirth of the knowledge of the classical Greeks and Romans that began in fourteenth century Italy. Can you recognize the accomplishments of some of the key participants?
Average, 10 Qns, ponycargirl, May 24 15
Average
ponycargirl editor
419 plays
5.
  Arrivederci Roma   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
After a wonderful holiday in Rome my host is throwing me a farewell party. Several famous Italian people are attending. Can you identify them from the butler's announcements?
Average, 10 Qns, Christinap, Oct 30 14
Average
Christinap
5255 plays
6.
  Inventive Italians   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
We're having a party to celebrate some Inventive Italians. Can you identify those that have contributed to our party preparation?
Average, 10 Qns, mlcmlc, Aug 11 24
Average
mlcmlc gold member
Aug 11 24
5671 plays
7.
  Give Ps a Chance    
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Please take pleasure in prominent Italian people, present and past, with a particular look at the perfect P. The Ps are either a product, a profession or a pastime connected with them begins with it.
Easier, 10 Qns, heidi66, Sep 30 19
Easier
heidi66 gold member
Sep 30 19
422 plays
8.
  What's With the Azzurri   top quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
The Azzurri is the name given to the Italian international teams, especially the football (soccer) team. Before starting their next match, they have invoked help from several famous Italians. Can you identify them?
Average, 10 Qns, rossian, Aug 26 14
Average
rossian editor
451 plays
9.
  Italian Inventors   popular trivia quiz  
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
What have the Italians done for us? Have fun finding out in this quiz.
Average, 10 Qns, JanIQ, Nov 09 16
Average
JanIQ gold member
320 plays
10.
  Eminent Italian Women    
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
They say Italian women are famous for their charm. Well, not only. Match the name of the lady with her claim to fame.
Easier, 10 Qns, zordy, Feb 15 20
Easier
zordy gold member
Feb 15 20
316 plays
Related Topics
  Italian Government [World] (5 quizzes)

  Italian Football [Sports] (19 quizzes)

  Mixed Italy [General] (14 quizzes)

  Italian Language [World] (44 quizzes)

  Italian History [History] (17 quizzes)

  Italian Foods [Hobbies] (33 quizzes)

  Italy Geography [Geography] (67 quizzes)


Italians: Famous & Historical Trivia Questions

1. To help our party along, we need some music. Bartolomeo Cristofori is generally credited as being the inventor of which musical instrument?

From Quiz
Inventive Italians

Answer: Pianoforte

Prior to Cristofori's development of the piano, the main keyboard instrument had been the harpsichord, which worked by plucking at strings. The harpsichord gave the player little control over the volume of the notes. Cristofori's instrument was originally called 'gravicembalo con piano e forte', meaning 'harpsicord that plays soft and loud'. The xylophone is a traditional instrument with no known inventor, and the saxophone was developed by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian. The violin evolved from the lyre, and there are many famous Italian violin makers, including the Amati and Stradivari families.

2. The Azzurri will need a ball to play with. Galileo has been recorded as testing his theories about acceleration by dropping balls from which famous landmark?

From Quiz What's With the Azzurri

Answer: Leaning Tower of Pisa

The experiment was described by Vincenzo Viviani in a biography he wrote about Galileo. Galileo himself did not record the experiment which has led many historians to argue that it didn't actually happen. Despite the doubt, the event is well known and the point it was intended to prove was being investigated by Galileo - that objects of different weight would fall at the same speed. I cannot find out which balls he used, but maybe the Azzurri won't mind playing with a tennis ball for a change if no soccer ball was involved.

3. The lines on the pitch will need to be clearly defined before the match starts. Which artist, who painted 'The Sistine Madonna', could the Azzurri call upon to help?

From Quiz What's With the Azzurri

Answer: Raphael

The only Italian artist listed is Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, usually known in English as Raphael, who was one of the three major Renaissance artists, bracketed with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. 'La Madonna di San Sisto', its Italian name, was painted for Pope Julius II in 1512 as an altarpiece for the church of San Sisto from which the painting gets its name. It was sold in 1754 and taken to be put on display in Dresden. It was then removed by the Russians at the end of World War II and displayed at Moscow's Pushkin Museum. It was returned to Germany ten years later. Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Rousseau were both French and Dante Gabriel Rossetti was English, although born to an Italian family. I'm not sure any of the artists would find painting white lines to their taste, but they would be beautifully done.

4. We're in need of an expressive vocal. Which Italian singer was one of The Three Tenors?

From Quiz Inventive Italians

Answer: Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti was born in Modena in Northern Italy in 1935. He, along with Spanish singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, started their partnership on the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final in Rome, Italy. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2007.

5. As he was sitting enjoying an antipasto with pepperoni, olives, chunks of various cheeses and cubes of a specific meat, this mariner said, "This plate make me so homesick". Who was he?

From Quiz Festa Italiana

Answer: Christopher Columbus

The man credited with discovering the New World was looking at the Genoa salami on the antipasto plate thinking of his birthplace in Genoa, Italy. He was born on Hallowe'en in 1451 and died in 1506. His most famous voyage would most probably be the one in 1492 with the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, although he made more voyages to the New World.

6. If we are going to a party, we might as well find out what the weather is going to be like. Who is credited with inventing the first barometer?

From Quiz Inventive Italians

Answer: Evangelista Torricelli

Torricelli has been accredited with the invention of the first atmospheric pressure barometer, by creating a constant vacuum. His creation was based on a suggestion made by Galileo a few years earlier. The process he used was to fill a 1.2 metre long glass test tube with mercury and turn it upside down onto a dish. He noticed that the mercury he put in did not pour out of the test tube, observing that an empty space was formed above the mercury creating a form of vacuum. After many observations he concluded that the variations in the height of the mercury were caused due to external factors created by the atmospheric pressure.

7. The Azzurri will be more likely to play at their best if they are well fed. Which Italian chef, famous for appearing on 'This Morning' and for winning 'I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here' in 2009, has volunteered to cook for them?

From Quiz What's With the Azzurri

Answer: Gino D'Acampo

Gino was born near Naples and moved to England to pursue his career in cookery. He appeared regularly on the British daytime television show 'This Morning' before moving to present his own shows such as 'Gino's Italian Escape', which had its first series in 2013. He appeared on the 2009 series of 'I'm a Celebrity', where a number of (reasonably) well-known people are left to fend for themselves in the Australian jungle. D'Acampo's series included the actor George Hamilton and snooker player Jimmy White, with D'Acampo emerging victorious. The other men named are all Italians who made their name as celebrity chefs. This proves to be one of the more successful choices, as the Azzurri all enjoy their food.

8. Sergio Tacchini has added his support to the Azzurri. With which aspect of their appearance will he be helping?

From Quiz What's With the Azzurri

Answer: Clothing

Tacchini was actually a professional sportsman himself before turning his hand to producing fashionable sportswear. He began his tennis career in 1955, becoming the Italian champion in 1960. Tacchini founded his sportswear company in 1966, naturally specialising in tennis wear and with players such as Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova and Pete Sampras wearing his designs. The company expanded into other sports, including golf and skiing, as well as general leisure wear. The Italian team are, of course, very conscious of what they are wearing. Blue is the main colour of their strip, which gives them their name (Gli Azzurri means 'The Blues'). Their kit has been supplied at various times by Adidas, Nike and Puma, but not by Tacchini.

9. For some of us who aren't in to the exotic and expensive foods, you have a more basic table with different dishes. The Italian inventor, known as the "Father of Modern Radio" visited here and, fittingly, walked away with what on his plate?

From Quiz Festa Italiana

Answer: "Marconi" and Cheese

Guglielmo Marconi is often credited as being the inventor of the radio, as well as the founder of a radio telegraph system, and Marconi's Law, the relation between the height of antennae and the maximum signalling distance. Marconi was a co-winner the 1909 Nobel Prize for Physics, and was ennobled in 1924, becoming Marchese Marconi.

10. To ensure they receive as many penalty awards as possible, the Azzurri will need some acting lessons. They are more than happy with my suggestion of Sophia Loren. In which 1960 film did she co-star with Peter Sellers?

From Quiz What's With the Azzurri

Answer: The Millionairess

The film was based on the play written by George Bernard Shaw, who also provided the idea for 'My Fair Lady', filmed four years later in 1964. 'The Millionairess' is a rather convoluted story about an heiress who can only marry a man who proves his ability to make money. Sellers plays the Indian doctor with whom she falls in love and who eventually, despite his best attempts to fail, meets the conditions to enable the couple to marry. Footballers are renowned for their ability to feign injury and attempting to convince the referee that they have been fouled. Sometimes the injuries and fouls are genuine but often the acting is pathetically poor, so Sophia's guidance on how to act convincingly would be more than welcome.

11. As we would like well educated kids to join the party which female Italian educator invented and developed a world famous interactive educational system stressing the importance of liberty within limits?

From Quiz Inventive Italians

Answer: Maria Montessori

Dr. Montessori's educational methods are used in schools all over the world. Its major conception is to allow children to develop their learning skills and mental capacities by giving them liberty within limits and to allow them to develop at their own pace. Classrooms usually have a mixture of students of different ages, this allows an interaction between children of different mental and physical abilities, allowing their natural curiosity to drive them, which is comparable to what happens in our adult life.

12. The team would benefit from having a right winger, and who better than Benito Mussolini? Which group was responsible for his death in 1945?

From Quiz What's With the Azzurri

Answer: Italian partisans

Mussolini was one of the founders of Fascism and was Hitler's main ally in Europe in the Second World War. He became Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 before taking control as a dictator in 1925. In April 1945, Mussolini could see that the war was lost and attempted to escape. He was captured by a group of partisans, who opposed both his regime and the Germans who were occupying Italy, and executed along with his mistress, Clara Petacci and other members of his group. The partisans were Communist supporters, so were at the opposite end of the political spectrum. In football terms, the right winger is nothing to do with politics, but describes the player who plays on the far right of the pitch. I doubt that Mussolini would be particularly athletic in any event (even if he wasn't dead).

13. The team insists on getting help from one former soccer player, and one of the best is Dino Zoff who captained the Italian side to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. In which position did he play?

From Quiz What's With the Azzurri

Answer: Goalkeeper

At last, the Azzurri say. Dino Zoff is classed as one of the best goalkeepers of the twentieth century, alongside Russia's Lev Yashin and England's Gordon Banks. He played for Italy on 112 occasions between 1968 and 1983 and was in the squad for four FIFA World Cups, playing in three of the tournaments. He was not picked to play in his first, in 1970, but crowned his career by winning the World Cup in Spain. Not only was he the captain, Zoff set a record for being the oldest man to be in the winning team, at the age of forty - a record which still stands in 2014. Thank goodness we have one real footballer for the team. With the rather eclectic group of people otherwise assembled it seems a good goalkeeper will be essential. I suspect even the mighty Zoff would have his work cut out captaining this motley crew.

14. If anyone has overindulged at our party, we can offer you coffee. Which Italian inventor patented the first steamless coffee machine in 1938?

From Quiz Inventive Italians

Answer: Achille Gaggia

Gaggia applied for his patent in September 1938 for a machine to be used in his own coffee bar. He founded a company in 1947, producing machines for commercial purposes, before expanding into the home market in 1977. The Gaggia company became a subsidiary of the Dutch owned Philips group in 1999, although the machines produced continue to bear the Gaggia name. Caruso was an Italian tenor and Cirio was a pioneer in the canning of meat and vegetables. Fermi was a physicist who worked on the first nuclear reactor.

This is category 21201
Last Updated Oct 26 2024 5:50 AM
play trivia = Top 5% Rated Quiz, take trivia quiz Top 10% Rated Quiz, test trivia quiz Top 20% Rated Quiz, popular trivia A Well Rated Quiz
new quizzes = added recently, editor pick = Editor's Pick editor = FunTrivia Editor gold = Gold Member

Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.