A special shoutout to @Stewmca, who “won” this post's informal genius quiz by correctly recognizing 16 of the 30 faces on the gallery of my favorite Italian geniuses. Honorable mentions to @NeilYoung826626 (who not only recognized many of the names but who also came up with his own alternative list) and @MisterMeridian (my brother who is only on Substack because of me but who I think should start a music newsletter).
See the full gallery at the end of the "Italy's Genius Paradox" post.
Here's the full list of names to go with the gallery:
I think it’s because the Italians are willing to argue and still be friends. Much like the cultural norms of the Jewish people, they appreciate a good argument. They know that with the people they love, arguing about a problem or question is not being on different sides, it is to challenge your thinking and it is being on the same side, the side of truth, the side of the pursuit of an ideal outcome.
They raise their children to question, even if just by observing the adults in their family. All of the Italians I know, the children are at the dinner table with the adults (if there is room at the table) not excluded from adult conversation. Believe me, this is very different than some other cultures that are taught obedience and silence and their curiosity is crushed at a young age when scolded for questioning or speaking during an adult conversation. That’s what I would guess anyway. Generalizations of the cultural norms, of course not everyone would fit this description.
You know, in all the times I discussed this topic with people nobody ever brought up this point, but there's definitely some truth to it. Brava! I like this.
You got a lot of 'em right, but I especially like your comments. I have to admit I didn't even know who Eleonora Duse was, but now I see there's a new documentary about her (here's the trailer if anyone's interested: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIuImY8G35Q).
Even the ones you got wrong were worthwhile names: Piero della Francesca, Cellini, Brunelleschi. Very interesting guesses.
I count 8 correct answers and a few more that made me smile. I'll post the full answers tomorrow, but for now I'll say that Calvino is on the list but isn't No. 5. And the one that'll make you kick yourself, No. 14, is Amedeo Modigliani.
There's quite a bit of overlap between the two lists (I counted 13 of your 25 on my list of 30, plus 8 more from your list of honorable mentions). Two others you mentioned (Pasolini, Eco) were among the last three I cut to get down to 30.
But keep in mind my list wasn't meant to be definitive ... it was just a list of geniuses I like.
Some people you mention (Bruno, Cimabue, Gregory I, Celentano) were/are influential and historically significant, but I wouldn't think of them as geniuses (pre-defining "genius" is something we both skipped over).
As I posted earlier, your previous sent me scurrying to look up Duse, and now this one sent me back to Wikipedia to figure out who Piscopia and Magris were. It's always interesting to find out about new historical figures.
Thanks a lot for coming up with your own list and posting it! You are definitely an iconoclast.
I’m really enjoying your column and look forward to a new one each week. I especially liked this one. I remember being razzed as a kid with dago and wop jokes growing up South Jersey. It always stung. Being 100% Italian (all of my grandparents were Southern Italian immigrants) to me meant curly hair when straight hair was cool and being shorter than all my friends.
But I had an Italian renaissance of my own in 1984 on my honeymoon in my mid 20s where we spent 10 days out of two months in Italy. For all the reasons you described, from art to architecture to fashion to food to simple living, to priorities built around family and friends, I realized that the thing we prize most in life the world over has its roots it Italy amid centuries of genius.
This is really heartwarming, Justin. I know you're proud of your heritage (especially your cousin, Saint Gaetano Catanoso), but I didn't know the backstory.
After living here so long I kind of wish I was at least partially Italian. But I took one of those DNA tests and it turns out I have small amounts of West African, Jewish, and Chinese DNA but not a drop from Italy.
It's a really intriguing question and, like you, I've long wondered about it. With the usual apologies for self-promotion, here's my (slightly tangential) take on the question from a couple of years ago:
Great article, my quick observation is that one reason is that Italy has 2000+ years of history to work with! I can hopefully get over half your list, so here goes: Puccini 2, Michelangelo 3, St. Francis 4, Machiavelli 6, Pavarotti 7, M Aurelius 10, Marconi 12, Da Vinci 15, Augustus 17, Fellini 19, Titian 20, Caravaggio 21, Fermi 25, Dante 27, Galileo 28, Caesar 29, Raphael 30. You left out Lorenzo de’ Medici! No cheating by checking answers in the comments.
Wow! Bravissimo! We have a new leader in the clubhouse! Number 4 isn't St. Francis, but the others are all correct. So, 16 is the score to beat! That's more than half the total and more than double @FBitz's previous top score. Can anyone beat Stewart without looking over his answers first?
I had to leave a lot of people off the list (Brunelleschi, Fibonacci, Caterina de' Medici, Petrarch, Umberto Eco, Toscanini, Enzo Ferrari, and Rossellini were all late cut off late in my decision-making process). Lorenzo de’ Medici would be on anyone's list of the most influential Italians, but I never thought of him as a true genius.
I put Lorenzo in the same category as the Roman rulers on the list, in his case as the greatest ruler of the Florentine city-state whose genius greatly advanced the renaissance--and several artists on your list!
I was anxiously awaiting this quote, which I think is supposed to be from Orson Welles: "In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed – they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
Dead center is DaVinci, a self-portrait I believe . beneath him is Sergio Leone, the guy who made the Spaghetti Westerns. To Da Vinci's left is Marconi and beneath that is Maria Montessori, the original matriarch of my mother's school in Florida. Left of Marconi is Pavarotti. He's the Justin Timberlake of Italy.:-)
The Dapper fellow with the top hat or stove pipe, that's Verdi the composer. Top right is Galileo, beneath him Julius caesar? On the far left, the guy with the interesting frier hairdo, is Thomas Aquinas, above him is Michelangelo. I think I know one more, above Lucio is the philosopher. Machiavelli
I would also like to mention that this newsletter about the Italian geniuses was a very interesting and colorful read. Thanks eric!
I am interested in the idea of chaos as a catalyst of genius; as chaos can be destructive, and not just creative, does Italy also breed the evil kind of genius? I also wonder if publicity is a factor in determining genius. Certainly, if people don't get credit for their work/ideas/insight, like, say, Rosalind Franklin, they won't be acknowledged as geniuses. If you're a genius all alone in a forest, are you still a genius?
Great final point, Eric, in fact I think it's connected to what I would've cited as the first "cause" for the phenomenon of Italian genius: l'arte dell'arrangiarsi. An extremely difficult to translate concept (check out what happens when you try to have Google translate it to English) it has to do with the fact that people from the Italian peninsula tend to know how to/have had to/like to improvise, make do, or problem-solve much more than others. It's part of the cultural fabric going back I imagine to the Ancient Romans and Etruscans. When the going gets tough, etc. etc. etc. Which oddly enough clashes with my other, second "cause": free time. Despite the political/religious/conflict-related difficulties you mention throughout your dispatch, people on the Italian peninsula have always had an abundance of food, especially fruits and vegetables, that pretty much grow anywhere due to ideal soil, climate, water, etc. While Brits and Germans and their ancestors had to kill themselves with hard, disciplined work to grow things like potatoes, Italians could pretty much sit back, have a laugh, and watch their tomatoes, oranges and lemons grow on trees that did everything pretty much on their own. Yes, I exaggerate. But if you have time to let your mind wander, it'll often stumble on genius.
I love the idea of "l'arte dell'arrangiarsi" ... I've just added it to my list of topics that may come up in a future post. I know there was a Totò film of that name, though I've never seen it. It's not an exact translation, but could it mean something like "The art of wining it"?
I agree also with the notion of free time, but lots of places have good weather, fertile soil, etc. I think you also need something to focus that time, like patronage, conflict, bureaucracy, etc. Whatever the combination of factors is, Italy seems to have stumbled onto a pretty good version of them.
A special shoutout to @Stewmca, who “won” this post's informal genius quiz by correctly recognizing 16 of the 30 faces on the gallery of my favorite Italian geniuses. Honorable mentions to @NeilYoung826626 (who not only recognized many of the names but who also came up with his own alternative list) and @MisterMeridian (my brother who is only on Substack because of me but who I think should start a music newsletter).
See the full gallery at the end of the "Italy's Genius Paradox" post.
Here's the full list of names to go with the gallery:
1. Archimedes
2. Giacomo Puccini
3. Michelangelo Buonarroti
4. Thomas Aquinas
5. Ennio Morricone
6. Anna Magnani
7. Rita Levi-Montalcini
8. Machiavelli
9. Luciano Pavarotti
10. Marcus Aurelius
11. Alessandro Volta
12. Guglielmo Marconi
13. Maria Montessori
14. Amedeo Modigliani
15. Leonardo Da Vinci
16. Sergio Leone
17. Ceasar Augustus
18. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
19. Federico Fellini
20. Titian
21. Caravaggio
22. Giotto
23. Ovid
24. Giuseppe Verdi
25. Enrico Fermi
26. Italo Calvino
27. Dante Aleghieri
28. Galileo Galilei
29. Julius Ceasar
30. Raphael
Is the painting of Villa dei Quintili a famous painting? It's beautiful to see the brush strokes so clearly.
I am guessing that now it's a bit famous. Thanks from the (non-Italian) painter.
I think it’s because the Italians are willing to argue and still be friends. Much like the cultural norms of the Jewish people, they appreciate a good argument. They know that with the people they love, arguing about a problem or question is not being on different sides, it is to challenge your thinking and it is being on the same side, the side of truth, the side of the pursuit of an ideal outcome.
They raise their children to question, even if just by observing the adults in their family. All of the Italians I know, the children are at the dinner table with the adults (if there is room at the table) not excluded from adult conversation. Believe me, this is very different than some other cultures that are taught obedience and silence and their curiosity is crushed at a young age when scolded for questioning or speaking during an adult conversation. That’s what I would guess anyway. Generalizations of the cultural norms, of course not everyone would fit this description.
You know, in all the times I discussed this topic with people nobody ever brought up this point, but there's definitely some truth to it. Brava! I like this.
Family is the basis for everything else.
without cheating, my guesses
1. Dante
2-3-4 no idea
5. Calvino?
6. MAGNANI! (but if any Italian actress was a genius surely it was Duse)
7. dunno
8. MACHIAVELLI!
9. Pavarotti
10. Marcus Aurelius?
11-13 no idea.
14. very familiar face, I'll kick myself when you tell me who it is!
15. Leonardo
16-18 no idea
19. FELLINI!
20. no idea
21. Garibaldi?
22. Piero della Francesca?
23. Marcus Aurelius again?
24. VERDI!
25-29 no idea. (28 might be Cellini)
30 Michelangelo?
I suppose one of these might be Brunelleschi...
You got a lot of 'em right, but I especially like your comments. I have to admit I didn't even know who Eleonora Duse was, but now I see there's a new documentary about her (here's the trailer if anyone's interested: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIuImY8G35Q).
Even the ones you got wrong were worthwhile names: Piero della Francesca, Cellini, Brunelleschi. Very interesting guesses.
I count 8 correct answers and a few more that made me smile. I'll post the full answers tomorrow, but for now I'll say that Calvino is on the list but isn't No. 5. And the one that'll make you kick yourself, No. 14, is Amedeo Modigliani.
FWIW, here's my list of Italian geniuses. It's divided into an "A" list and a "B" list, along with the centuries in which they lived.
A (the big 3, plus one)
(Archimedes) Greek/Sicilian 3BC
Galileo 16-17
Leonardo 15-16
Michelangelo 15-16
B (another 21, makes 25)
Bernini C17
Boethius 5-6
Cicero 1BC-1CE
Boccaccio C14
Brunelleschi 14-15
Caravaggio 16-17
Dante 13-14
Duse 19-20
Fibonacci 12-13
Giotto 13-14
Lucretius 1BC
Machiavelli 15-16
Monteverdi 16-17
Paganini 18-19
Palladio C16
Piero della Francesca C15
Raphael 15-16
Thomas Aquinas C13
Verdi 19-20
Vico 17-18
Volta 18-19
heroic near-misses include...
Avogadro, Bellini, Botticelli, Calvino, Celentano, Cellini, Cimabue, Donatello, Eco, Fermi, Giordano Bruno, Giorgione, Gramsci, Pope Gregory I, Magris, Marconi, Montessori, (Parmenides), Pasolini, Petrarch, Renzo Piano, Pico della Mirandola, Pirandello, Piscopia, Puccini, Virgil, Vivaldi
plus, in the field of cinema (as well as Pasolini)
Argento, Fellini, Leone, Morricone, Storaro, Tovoli
There's quite a bit of overlap between the two lists (I counted 13 of your 25 on my list of 30, plus 8 more from your list of honorable mentions). Two others you mentioned (Pasolini, Eco) were among the last three I cut to get down to 30.
But keep in mind my list wasn't meant to be definitive ... it was just a list of geniuses I like.
Some people you mention (Bruno, Cimabue, Gregory I, Celentano) were/are influential and historically significant, but I wouldn't think of them as geniuses (pre-defining "genius" is something we both skipped over).
As I posted earlier, your previous sent me scurrying to look up Duse, and now this one sent me back to Wikipedia to figure out who Piscopia and Magris were. It's always interesting to find out about new historical figures.
Thanks a lot for coming up with your own list and posting it! You are definitely an iconoclast.
"Bruno, Cimabue, Gregory I, Celentano" -- I agree, that's why I put them on the "near-miss" list rather than making the actual genius grade!
Hey Eric!
I’m really enjoying your column and look forward to a new one each week. I especially liked this one. I remember being razzed as a kid with dago and wop jokes growing up South Jersey. It always stung. Being 100% Italian (all of my grandparents were Southern Italian immigrants) to me meant curly hair when straight hair was cool and being shorter than all my friends.
But I had an Italian renaissance of my own in 1984 on my honeymoon in my mid 20s where we spent 10 days out of two months in Italy. For all the reasons you described, from art to architecture to fashion to food to simple living, to priorities built around family and friends, I realized that the thing we prize most in life the world over has its roots it Italy amid centuries of genius.
I’ve been a proud Italian ever since!
This is really heartwarming, Justin. I know you're proud of your heritage (especially your cousin, Saint Gaetano Catanoso), but I didn't know the backstory.
After living here so long I kind of wish I was at least partially Italian. But I took one of those DNA tests and it turns out I have small amounts of West African, Jewish, and Chinese DNA but not a drop from Italy.
As an Italian who went to HS in Philadelphia, I can empathize! Buona fortuna Catanoso!
It's a really intriguing question and, like you, I've long wondered about it. With the usual apologies for self-promotion, here's my (slightly tangential) take on the question from a couple of years ago:
https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/italy-mother-of-all-invention/
Great article, my quick observation is that one reason is that Italy has 2000+ years of history to work with! I can hopefully get over half your list, so here goes: Puccini 2, Michelangelo 3, St. Francis 4, Machiavelli 6, Pavarotti 7, M Aurelius 10, Marconi 12, Da Vinci 15, Augustus 17, Fellini 19, Titian 20, Caravaggio 21, Fermi 25, Dante 27, Galileo 28, Caesar 29, Raphael 30. You left out Lorenzo de’ Medici! No cheating by checking answers in the comments.
Wow! Bravissimo! We have a new leader in the clubhouse! Number 4 isn't St. Francis, but the others are all correct. So, 16 is the score to beat! That's more than half the total and more than double @FBitz's previous top score. Can anyone beat Stewart without looking over his answers first?
I had to leave a lot of people off the list (Brunelleschi, Fibonacci, Caterina de' Medici, Petrarch, Umberto Eco, Toscanini, Enzo Ferrari, and Rossellini were all late cut off late in my decision-making process). Lorenzo de’ Medici would be on anyone's list of the most influential Italians, but I never thought of him as a true genius.
Thoughts?
I put Lorenzo in the same category as the Roman rulers on the list, in his case as the greatest ruler of the Florentine city-state whose genius greatly advanced the renaissance--and several artists on your list!
I was anxiously awaiting this quote, which I think is supposed to be from Orson Welles: "In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed – they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
Loved the rather poetic conclusion to this one.
Dead center is DaVinci, a self-portrait I believe . beneath him is Sergio Leone, the guy who made the Spaghetti Westerns. To Da Vinci's left is Marconi and beneath that is Maria Montessori, the original matriarch of my mother's school in Florida. Left of Marconi is Pavarotti. He's the Justin Timberlake of Italy.:-)
The Dapper fellow with the top hat or stove pipe, that's Verdi the composer. Top right is Galileo, beneath him Julius caesar? On the far left, the guy with the interesting frier hairdo, is Thomas Aquinas, above him is Michelangelo. I think I know one more, above Lucio is the philosopher. Machiavelli
I would also like to mention that this newsletter about the Italian geniuses was a very interesting and colorful read. Thanks eric!
You got a lot of them! You could have made it easier on me by using the numbers! Haha.
I count 11 geniuses identified. Excellent! I know you're the first to recognize Sergio Leone and Thomas Aquinas. Bravo!
Oh and one of those marble statues has to be Caesar Augustus
1. Archimedes
9. Pavarotti
13. Montessori
30. Raphael
Four yeses! Brava!
Archimedes was one of the hard one.
15. DaVinci not Davina!
9. Pavarotti
13. Montessori
15. Davina
26. Fellini (I think)
Hi Sharon! It's nice to see you here.
The first three are right (no surprise you got Maria Montessori), and Fellini's on there but he's not 26.
I am interested in the idea of chaos as a catalyst of genius; as chaos can be destructive, and not just creative, does Italy also breed the evil kind of genius? I also wonder if publicity is a factor in determining genius. Certainly, if people don't get credit for their work/ideas/insight, like, say, Rosalind Franklin, they won't be acknowledged as geniuses. If you're a genius all alone in a forest, are you still a genius?
Evil Italian geniuses? Mussolini immmediately comes to mind.
I always wonder how many Mozarts or Isaac Newtons were born and then died without anyone noticing.
A sad admission: I had to look Rosalind Franklin up to know who she was, which helps make your point.
Number 24 is of Giuseppe Verdi.
Correct!
Great final point, Eric, in fact I think it's connected to what I would've cited as the first "cause" for the phenomenon of Italian genius: l'arte dell'arrangiarsi. An extremely difficult to translate concept (check out what happens when you try to have Google translate it to English) it has to do with the fact that people from the Italian peninsula tend to know how to/have had to/like to improvise, make do, or problem-solve much more than others. It's part of the cultural fabric going back I imagine to the Ancient Romans and Etruscans. When the going gets tough, etc. etc. etc. Which oddly enough clashes with my other, second "cause": free time. Despite the political/religious/conflict-related difficulties you mention throughout your dispatch, people on the Italian peninsula have always had an abundance of food, especially fruits and vegetables, that pretty much grow anywhere due to ideal soil, climate, water, etc. While Brits and Germans and their ancestors had to kill themselves with hard, disciplined work to grow things like potatoes, Italians could pretty much sit back, have a laugh, and watch their tomatoes, oranges and lemons grow on trees that did everything pretty much on their own. Yes, I exaggerate. But if you have time to let your mind wander, it'll often stumble on genius.
I love the idea of "l'arte dell'arrangiarsi" ... I've just added it to my list of topics that may come up in a future post. I know there was a Totò film of that name, though I've never seen it. It's not an exact translation, but could it mean something like "The art of wining it"?
I agree also with the notion of free time, but lots of places have good weather, fertile soil, etc. I think you also need something to focus that time, like patronage, conflict, bureaucracy, etc. Whatever the combination of factors is, Italy seems to have stumbled onto a pretty good version of them.