List of Italian Americans

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Italian American or must have references showing they are Italian American and are notable.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Anarchists

• Luigi Galleani (1861–1931)
• Arturo Giovannitti (1884–1959) - union leader and poet
• Sacco and Vanzetti (1891–1927; 1888–1927)
• Carlo Tresca (1879–1943)

Architects

• Vito Acconci
• Pietro Belluschi
• Giorgio Cavaglieri
• Mario J. Ciampi
• Neil Denari
• Romaldo Giurgola
• Michael Manfredi
• Rosaria Piomelli
• Mario Salvadori
• Lawrence Scarpa
• Ricardo Scofidio
• Paolo Soleri
• Robert Venturi

Artists

Main article: List of Italian American entertainers

Comic artists, cartoonists, illustrators

• Brian Azzarello - comic book writer
• Joseph Barbera (1911–2006) - animator, cartoon artist, storyboard artist, director, producer, and co-founder, together with William Hanna, of Hanna-Barbera
• Timothy D. Bellavia (born 1971) - children's illustrator, author and founder of the We Are All The Same Inside - Sage doll-making workshop
• Ivan Brunetti (born 1967) - cartoonist and comics author
• John Buscema (1927–2002) - comic-book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate
• Greg Capullo (born 1962) - comic book artist
• Anthony Flamini (born 1978) comic book writer
• Frank Frazetta (born 1928) - one of the world's most influential fantasy and science fiction artists
• Bill Gallo (born 1922) - cartoonist and newspaperman
• Dick Giordano (born 1932) - comic book artist and editor
• Frank Giacoia (1925–1989) - comic book artist
• Carmine Infantino (born 1925) - comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books
• Walter Lantz (1900–1994) - cartoonist and animator, founded the Walter Lantz Studio, created Woody Woodpecker
• Bob Montana (1920–1975) - comic strip artist who created the characters that launched Archie comics
• Joe Orlando (1927–1998) - illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist
• Jimmy Palmiotti - writer and artist of various comics, games and film
• Leo Politi (1908–1996) - artist and author who wrote and illustrated some 20 children's books
• John Romita, Sr. (born 1930) - comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man
• Don Rosa (born 1951) - comic book artist for Disney Comics
• Eric Stefani (born 1967) - pop musician, former Simpsons animator, and Grammy-nominated composer and writer
• Jim Valentino (born 1952) - writer, penciler and editor of comic books
• Gerard Way (born 1977) - comic book writer; frontman of the American rock band My Chemical Romance

Digital artists and illustrators

• Rich DiSilvio (born 1957) - illustrator, photographer, fine artist, digital artist, web designer, new media developer, architectural designer and writer
• Louise Fili (born 1951) - graphic designer, 2014 American Institute of Graphic Arts Medalist
• Fred Marcellino (1939–2001) - illustrator

Painters

• Ettore DeGrazia
• Robert De Niro, Sr. (1922–1993) - abstract expressionist, father of actor Robert De Niro, Jr.
• Robert Longo
• Tony Sisti (1901–1983) - painter and boxer
• Frank Stella (born 1936) - painter and printmaker
• Joseph Stella (1877–1946) - futurist painter known for his depictions of industrial America

Photographers

• Severo Antonelli (1907–1995) - legendary figure in Philadelphia Italian American history and the subject of one of the largest ever one-man shows at the Smithsonian Institution
• Franco A. "Frank" Barsotti (1937–2012) photographer and professor emeritus from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Justin Guariglia (1974–) - photographer and contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler, and a regular contributor to Smithsonian Magazine
• Luis Marden (1913–2003) - photographer, explorer, writer, filmmaker, diver, navigator, and linguist who worked for National Geographic magazine
• Francesco Scavullo (1921–2004) - fashion photographer known for his work on the covers of Cosmopolitan magazine and his celebrity portraits
• Mario Sorrenti (born 1971) - fashion photographer

Sculptors

• Vincent Cavallaro
• Jasper D'Ambrosi
• John DeAndrea
• Joe De Santis
• Mark di Suvero
• Virginio Ferrari
• Corrado Parducci
• Piccirilli Brothers
• Italo Scanga - neo-Dadaist

Business

Main article: List of Italian American business people

Criminals

Main article: List of Italian American mobsters

Entertainers

Main article: List of Italian American entertainers

Actors

Main article: List of Italian American actors

Inventors

• Anthony Adducci (1937–2006) - pioneer of the medical device industry in Minnesota; best known for founding Guidant Corp. precursor Cardiac Pacemakers, inc., now part of Boston Scientific, the company that manufactured the world's first lithium battery-powered artificial pacemaker
• Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
• Enea Bossi
• Daniel DiLorenzo
• Gerard J. Foschini
• Domingo Ghirardelli
• The Jacuzzi family - developed the deep well water pump that led to the famous whirlpool bath
• Antonio Meucci (born 1808) - credited by the Congress of the United States with the invention of the telephone
• Lorenzo Ponza
• Francis Rogallo - engineer at NASA, designed the Rogallo wing, which found its greatest success in hang gliders and kites
• Andrew Toti
• Dr. Andrew Viterbi (born 1935) - billionaire, cofounder of Qualcomm, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm
• Frank Zamboni

Jurists

• Samuel Alito - Supreme Court Associate Justice
• Vincent Bugliosi - successfully prosecuted Charles Manson; an expert on the John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy assassinations
• Ann Marie Calabria - judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals
• Frank Caprio - Chief Judge of the Providence Municipal Court
• William J. Castagna - judge on the United States District Court
• Richard J. Daronco - assassinated judge of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York
• Victoria A. Graffeo - Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
• Jaynee LaVecchia - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
• Antonin Scalia - Supreme Court Associate Justice
• John Sirica - judge most famous for presiding over the Watergate hearings

Law enforcement figures

• Joseph Arpaio (born 1932 in Springfield, Massachusetts) - law enforcement officer, most notably as the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona; the child of immigrants from Naples
• Joseph D. Pistone - undercover FBI agent who went undercover as Donnie Brasco and infiltrated the Bonanno crime family.
• Louis Freeh (born 1950 in Jersey City, New Jersey) - Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1993 to 2001
• Rudolph Giuliani - early career was a US attorney in S.D.N.Y., prosecuting high-profile cases, including Cosa Nostra cases
• Frank Rizzo
• Frank Serpico
• Joe Petrosino - NYCPD lieutenant in charge of the Italian Squad, an elite corps of Italian-American detectives formed to fight the Mafia
• Charles Joseph Bonaparte - member of Theodore Roosevelt's Cabinet and founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Journalism (print and multimedia)

• Melissa Anelli - resident of Staten Island, journalist at Staten Island Advance and webmaster of The Leaky Cauldron
• Maria Bartiromo - financial reporter
• Joe Benigno - WFAN sports radio personality
• David Brancaccio - journalist
• Harry Caray (1914–1998) - born Harry Christopher Carabina, sports broadcaster, did play-by-play for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, and most famously the Chicago Cubs; Cubs win! Cubs win!
• Matt Casamassina - video game journalist working for IGN
• Danny Casolaro - freelance journalist
• Igor Cassini - journalist
• Chris Cimino - co-host of Today in New York on WNBC, the NBC affiliate in New York City
• Anthony Cumia - "Anthony" of the Opie and Anthony show
• Rick Francona - NBC military analyst
• Michael Gargiulo - co-host of Today in New York on WNBC, the NBC affiliate in New York City
• Steve Lopez - journalist; a columnist for the Los Angeles Times since 2001; the son of Spanish and Italian immigrants
• Ann Nocenti - journalist, writer and editor, known for her work on comic books and magazines
• Generoso Pope Jr. (1927–1988) - founder of the National Enquirer
• Tony Rizzo - sports anchor with WJW-TV, the Fox affiliate in Cleveland
• Allison Rosati - WMAQ-TV nightly anchor
• Lauren Scala - co-host of Today in New York on WNBC, the NBC affiliate in New York City
• Elaine Sciolino - Paris bureau chief of The New York Times

Military

See also: List of Italian American Medal of Honor recipients

• Sgt. John Basilone - USMC, Medal of Honor recipient of World War II
• Major John Belli - the Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army from 1792 to 1794
• Corporal Anthony Casamento - USMC, Medal of Honor recipient of World War II
• Lieutenant General Peter W. Chiarelli
• Col. Luigi Palma di Cesnola - Civil War Union Cavalry officer, and Medal of Honor recipient.
• Lt Col Rick Francona - U S Air Force officer
• Major Don Gentile (Dominic Salvatore Gentile) (1920–1951) - U S Air Force officer
• Edmund P. Giambastiani - Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Giovanni Martini - trumeter; only member of Custer's army to leave the site of the Battle of the Little Big Horn alive
• General Raymond T. Odierno - incumbent Chief of Staff of the United States Army
• Peter Pace - USMC, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Antonio Pierro - lived to be one of the oldest surviving veterans of World War I
• Joseph L. Romano
• Maj. Gen. Francis D. Vavala - Adjutant General, Delaware Army National Guard
• Humbert Roque Versace - United States Army officer and POW in Vietnam
• Gen. Anthony Zinni - USMC, former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)

Politicians

Main article: List of Italian American politicians by state

Diplomats

• Richard F. Celeste - U.S. Ambassador to India, 1997–2001
• Paul Cellucci - U.S. Ambassador to Canada, 2001–2005
• Peter Cianchette - U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, 2008–
• Luigi R. Einaudi - acting Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS)
• Thomas M. Foglietta - U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1997–2001
• John J. Maresca - U.S. Ambassador, United States Delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, 1992–1994
• Joseph A. Mussomeli - U.S. Ambassador to The Philippines; Ambassador to Cambodia, 2005–2008;
• Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. - U.S. Ambassador to The Philippines and Republic of Palau, 2002–2005; Ambassador to Egypt, 2005–2008; and Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan, 2008–
• Peter F. Secchia - U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1989–1993
• Ronald P. Spogli - U.S. Ambassador to Italy and first U.S. Ambassador to San Marino, 2005–2009

Governors and former governors

• John Baldacci - former governor of Maine (2003–2011)
• Donald Carcieri - former governor of Rhode Island (2003–2011)
• Dick Celeste - former governor of Ohio (1983–1991)
• Argeo Paul Cellucci - former governor of Massachusetts (1997–2001)
• Chris Christie - governor of New Jersey
• Andrew Cuomo - governor of New York (2010–present)
• Mario Cuomo - former governor of New York (1983–1994)
• Edward D. DiPrete - former governor of Rhode Island (1985–1991)
• Michael DiSalle - former governor of Ohio (1959–1963)
• James Florio - former governor of New Jersey (1990–1994)
• Foster Furcolo - former governor of Massachusetts (1957–1961)
• Ella T. Grasso - former governor of Connecticut (1975–1980); first woman to be elected governor without following a husband
• Andrew H. Longino - former governor of Mississippi (1900–1904)
• Janet Napolitano - former governor of Arizona (2003–2009)
• John Orlando Pastore - former governor of Rhode Island
• William Paca - signer of the American Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, governor of Maryland, Federal District Judge
• George Pataki - former governor of New York (1995–2006)
• Al Smith - former governor of New York (1919–1921; 1923–1929)
• John A. Volpe - former governor of Massachusetts (1961–1963; 1965–1969)

Mayors and former mayors

• Hugh Addonizio (1914–1981) - mayor of Newark, New Jersey, 1962–1970
• Joseph Alioto (1916–1998) - mayor of San Francisco, 1968–1976
• Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro, Jr. (1903–1987) - mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, 1947–1959; prior to being mayor, he was a representative from Maryland's 3rd congressional district (1939–47); father of U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi
• Richard Caliguiri (1931–1988) - mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1978–1988
• Anthony Celebrezze (1910–1998) - mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, 1953–1962
• Vincent Cianci, Jr (b. 1941) - mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, 1975–1984 and 1991–2002
• David Cicilline (b. 1961) - mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, 2003-; Jewish mother
• John DeStefano, Jr. (b. 1955) - mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, since 1993
• Frank Fasi (b. 1920) - Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, 1969–1981 and 1984–1994
• Eric Garcetti (b. 1971) - mayor of Los Angeles, California, 2013-
• Rudolph Giuliani (b. 1944) - Mayor of New York, 1994–2001
• Dick A. Greco (b. 1933) - mayor of Tampa, Florida, 1967–1974 and 1995–2003
• Pam Iorio (b. 1959) - Mayor of Tampa, Florida, since 2003
• Vincent R. Impellitteri (1900–1987) - Mayor of New York, 1950–1953
• Fiorello La Guardia (1882–1947) - Mayor of New York, 1934–1945; both parents Italian-born; father lapsed Catholic; mother Jewish
• Anthony M. Masiello (b. 1947) - mayor of Buffalo, New York, 1994–2005
• Thomas Menino (1942–2014) - Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, 1993–2014
• Robert Maestri (1899–1974) - mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1936–1946
• George Moscone (1929–1978) - mayor of San Francisco, 1976–1978
• Frank Rizzo (1920–1991) - mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1972–1980
• Angelo Rossi (1878–1948) - mayor of San Francisco, 1931–1944
• Victor Schiro (1904–1992) - mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1961–1970
• Frank A. Sedita (1907–1975) - mayor of Buffalo, New York 1958–1961, 1966–1973

Prelates

• Msgr. Geno Baroni (1930–1984) - the Catholic Coordinator for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
• Francis X. DiLorenzo (born 1942) - the twelfth bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia
• John Clement Favalora - Archbishop of the Latin Rite Archdiocese of Miami
• Fr. Stan Fortuna - Roman Catholic priest
• James Groppi - Roman Catholic priest and noted civil rights activist
• Francis Mugavero - first Italian-American Bishop of Brooklyn, 1968–1990
• Anthony M. Pilla - bishop of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, 1979–2006
• Joseph Rosati - the first Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis

Cardinals

• Joseph Louis Bernardin (1928-1996), Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop of Chicago
• Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua (1923–2012), served as Bishop of Pittsburgh and Archbishop of Philadelphia
• Daniel Nicholas DiNardo (born 1949), Archbishop of Galveston-Houston
• Justin Francis Rigali (born 1935), Archbishop of Philadelphia

Scientists

• Eugenio Calabi - mathematician
• Charles DeLisi
• Renato Dulbecco
• Federico Faggin
• Robert Fano (born 1917) - computer scientist
• Ugo Fano (1912–2001) - physicist
• Anthony Fauci - immunologist contributing to research in the areas of AIDS and other immunodeficiencies
• Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) - physicist
• Robert Gallo
• Albert Ghiorso - nuclear scientist who helped discover several chemical elements on the periodic table
• Riccardo Giacconi
• Louis Ignarro
• Robert Lanza
• Paul J. Lioy - exposure science
• Mariangela Lisanti - theoretical physicist
• Salvador Luria
• Fulvio Melia - physicist, astrophysicist, and author
• Antonio Meucci - telephone inventor
• Rita Levi-Montalcini
• Franco Modigliani
• Lisa Marie Nowak - born Lisa Marie Caputo; astronaut
• William Daniel Phillips
• Bruno Rossi
• Gian-Carlo Rota
• Jack Sarfatti
• Piero Scaruffi (born 1955) - cognitive scientist
• Walter Schirra - astronaut
• Emilio Segrè - Nobel Prize-winning physicist and academic
• Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (born 1922) - geneticist
• Andrew Viterbi
• Philip Zimbardo

Academics

• Mario Capecchi - University of Utah
• John D. Caputo
• Frank A. Cipriani
• Thomas A. DeFanti
• John J. DeGioia - President of Georgetown University
• Frank J. Fabozzi
• A. Bartlett Giamatti (1938–1989) - President of Yale University, later Major League Baseball commissioner; Italian father
• Robert Gallucci - Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
• Lino Graglia - University of Texas in Austin
• Paul J. Lioy - University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
• Robert Magliola - academic specialist in hermeneutics, philosophy, and religious studies
• Silvio Micali - Professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, distinguished for his work on cryptography
• Fulvio Melia - Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson
• Franco Modigliani - MIT economics professor and winner of the 1985 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics
• L. Jay Oliva - former President of New York University (NYU) and author of many books on European and Russian history
• Camille Paglia - professor at humanities at the University of the Arts
• P. M. Pasinetti - professor of comparative literature and Italian at UCLA

Sports

Main article: List of Italian Americans in sports

Writers

• Ken Auletta - writer/journalist and media critic for The New Yorker
• David Baldacci (1960–) - best-selling novelist; a distant cousin of John Baldacci, former governor of Maine
• Andrew Berardini - art critic and fiction writer
• Greg Berlanti - television writer and producer
• Giannina Braschi - poet and novelist
• Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) - author and motivational speaker
• Duane Capizzi - screenwriter
• Lorenzo Carcaterra - novelist and screenwriter
• John Ciardi - poet and etymologist
• Angelo F. Coniglio - civil engineer, genealogist and author
• Gregory Corso - poet
• John Corvino - philosopher
• Lorenzo Da Ponte - poet, writer, librettist
• William L. DeAndrea - mystery writer
• Keith R. A. DeCandido
• Don DeLillo (1936–) - author
• Guy Anthony De Marco - author
• Tomie dePaola - author
• Pietro Di Donato - writer
• Rich DiSilvio - writer, author of The Winds of Time
• John Fante - novelist and screenwriter
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti - poet, essayist and painter
• David Franzoni - screenwriter of Gladiator and King Arthur
• John Fusco - novelist (Paradise Salvage) and screenwriter of Young Guns, Hidalgo, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
• Paul Gallico - Italian father
• Daniela Gioseffi (1941– ) - poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, performer, social justice activist
• Arturo Giovannitti - poet, political activist
• Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934–2002) - writer
• Evan Hunter - aka Ed MacBain, born Salvatore Lombino
• Philip Lamantia
• Teresa de Lauretis
• Luis Marden - born Annibale Luis Paragallo, writer for National Geographic
• Fulvio Melia - author of several popular science books, including The Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy
• Charles Messina - writer/director of the play Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God, the film Merging, and co-author the book My Father, My Don
• Diana Ossana - Academy Award-winning screenwriter
• Camille Paglia - post-feminist literary and cultural critic
• Christopher Paolini
• Michael Parenti
• P.M. Pasinetti - novelist, playwright, journalist, professor
• Mario Pei
• Tom Perrotta - novelist and screenwriter best known for the novels Election (1998) and Little Children (2004)
• Joseph D. Pistone
• Diane di Prima - poet of the Beat generation
• Mario Puzo (1920–1999) - writer/screenwriter and best-selling author of The Godfather
• Terry Rossio - screenwriter
• Shane Salerno - screenwriter
• R.A. Salvatore (born 1959) - born Robert Anthony Salvatore, science fiction and fantasy author, best known for his Forgotten Realms and Star Wars novels
• Leslie Scalapino - poet
• Piero Scaruffi - poet, historian, scientist
• Dom (Domenico) Serafini - TV trade magazine editor
• Michelangelo Signorile - journalist, columnist, talk radio host and gay activist
• Gay Talese
• Tom Verducci - sportswriter

Italian Americans who were first in their field of achievement

• Giuseppe Mario Bellanca - designer of the first monoplane in the United States with an enclosed cabin
• Frank Borzage - first person to win the Academy Award for Directing, for Seventh Heaven (1927)
• Enea Bossi - designer of the first stainless steel aircraft and designer of the disputed first fully human-powered plane
• Anthony Celebrezze (1910–1998) - the first non-native to be appointed to the U.S. Cabinet
• Geraldine Ferraro (1935–2011) - the first woman in U.S. history to be nominated for the vice presidency of the United States from a major political party
• Ella T. Grasso (1919–1981) - born Ella Rose Tambussi Grasso, first woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state without succeeding her husband
• Giuseppina Morlacchi (1846–1886) - ballerina and dancer, introduced the can-can to the American stage
• Nancy Pelosi - the first woman in U.S. history to hold the office of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• Dennis Tito - the world's first space tourist
• Joe Valachi (1904–1971) - the first member of the Mafia to testify to the Senate about organized crime

Italian Americans not otherwise categorized

• Marella Agnelli - furniture designer
• Luigi Antonini - labor leader
• Joe Bastianich - chef
• Lidia Bastianich - chef
• Mike Bongiorno - TV personality
• Alyssa Campanella - father is of Italian descent (from Naples); mother is of Danish and German ancestry
• Caesar Cardini - creator of the Caesar salad
• Oleg Cassini - Russian-Italian-American fashion designer
• Michael Chiarello - American celebrity chef specializing in Italian-influenced California cuisine
• Andrew Cunanan - spree killer; mother was Italian-American
• Giada De Laurentiis - host of the Food Network program Everyday Italian
• Emily DiDonato – American model of Italian, Irish, and Native American ancestry
• Ralph DiGia - pacifist and social justice activist
• Tabitha D'umo - choreographer and creative director
• Angelo Dundee - trainer of several boxing champions
• Elizabeth Edwards - née Anania, wife of John Edwards, a former U.S. Senator from North Carolina
• Vanessa Hessler - American model and actress
• Gina Keatley - chef and television personality; influenced charities in New York City
• Nick LaRocca - musician, composer
• Stacy London - stylist and fashion consultant; Sicilian mother, Jewish father
• Charles Ponzi (1882–1949) - one of the greatest swindlers in American history; inventor of the Ponzi scheme
• Carrie Prejean - American model, author, former Miss California USA 2009 and Miss USA 2009 first runner-up
• Rachael Ray - Food Network chef and Emmy-winning television personality
• John Scarne - born Orlando Carmelo Scarnecchia, gambling expert and sleight-of-hand card performer
• Mary Schiavo - former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation
• Michael Schiavo - ex-husband of Terri Schiavo, the woman whose comatose state and subsequent court case garnered much media attention
• Milton Sirotta - at age nine coined the term googol
• Jack Valenti - of Sicilian heritage, president of the Motion Picture Association of America from 1966 to 2007
• Michael Viscardi - mathematician
• Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann - fashion model, and socialite of Italian, Swedish, French and German descent

See also

• List of Sicilian Americans
• List of Italian Britons