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For over three thousand years, Italy, known in ancient times as the Roman Empire, has been the world’s leading nation in many areas such as architecture, art, engineering, social organization, fashion, and luxury.
In modern times, Italian inventors, artists, architects, and engineers developed systems and techniques we are still using in our everyday lives without necessarily being aware of the origins of these great discoveries and inventions.
Guests visiting Canados Shipyard are always impressed by how creative and talented our craftsmen are. Watching them work or face technical challenges always reveals a true creative and technical DNA. This is just a direct result of the deeply embedded cultural heritage of our region. You may not realize it, but many of the things we all take for granted have their roots in Rome.
In Great Britain, there were no roads before the Roman invasion creating a network of straight and solid highways built on foundations of clay, chalk, and gravel with larger flat stones laid on top. Original Roman roads are still intact all around the Mediterranean Basin, some still being used today.
The banking system and organization we are using today was created when the Bank of San Giorgio opened for business in Genoa, Italy, in 1149. The world’s oldest bank still in activity is also Italian. It is the Monte Paschi di Siena that was founded in 1472 in Siena, Toscana.
Gerolamo Cardano was considered the greatest mathematician of the Renaissance. He was one of the key figures in the foundation of probability and invented several devices including the combination lock and the Cardan shaft, still used today in the engine room of your yacht.
Neither IBM® nor Apple® invented the desktop computer. It was Pier Giorgio Perroto produced by Italian manufacturer Olivetti®. The “Programma 101” was the first commercial desktop computer and was presented to the public at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
Leonardo Chiariglione and his team at the Moving Picture Expert Group were the inventors of the MP3 format. Originally called MPEG and later known as MP3, both of which are things we couldn’t have DVD and satellite television without, and we all believe originated in Silicon Valley. In Great Britain, there were no roads prior to the Roman invasion creating a network of straight and solid highways built on foundations of clay, chalk, and gravel with larger flat stones laid on top. Original Roman roads are still intact all around the Mediterranean Basin, some still being used today.
It is Guglielmo Marconi, who in late 1894 began pursuing the idea of building a wireless telegraphy system based on Hertzian waves. Marconi gained a patent on the system in 1896 and developed it into a commercial communication system. Another Italian invention we all us in our everyday life.In Great Britain, there were no road prior to the Roman invasion who created a network of straight and solid highways built on foundations of clay, chalk and gravel with larger flat stones laid on top. Original Roman roads are still intact all around the Mediterranean Basin, some still being used today.
The carburetor was invented by Luigi De Cristoforis, in 1876. The first carburetor was then developed by another Italian, Enrico Bernardi at the University of Padova in 1882, for his “Motrice Pia”, the first petrol-combustion one-cylinder engine. If we now mainly use injection motors, the carburetor is still emblematic of gas engines.
The concept of the world’s first Shopping Center is not American! It appeared in ancient Rome. The earliest example was the Trajan’s Market built by Apollodorus of Damascus. This building can still be visited today and people can see the lineup of shops in this multiple-story building.
Even if the original vision of the helicopter is to be credited to Leonardo da Vinci’s 15th-century Aerial Screw, and despite claims from Russians and Americans, they did not invent it. It is Corradino D’Ascanio’s bladed rotating flying machine that sets the standard for helicopters to come.
Almost 1000 years old, the University of Bologna is the oldest university in the world. It is still open today and has been continuously since 1088. The university was made famous for its teaching of canon and civil law, and later became central in the development of medieval Roman law.
The Jeans fabric was invented in the city of Genoa, Italy, and soon appeared in Nimes, France. “Genes”, the French word for Genoa, became “jeans”. In Nimes, weavers tried to reproduce jeans but instead developed a similar twill fabric that became known as denim meaning “from Nimes”.
Romans enjoyed public toilets, underground sewage, fountains, and public baths. None of these innovations would have been possible without the aqueducts developed around 312 B.C. Aqueducts transported water as far as 60 miles away from the collecting source.
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Combustion engine invented by Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci, in late 1851.
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Electroplating is a manufacturing technique invented by Luigi Brugnatelli in 1805.
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The typewriter invented in 1575 by Francesco Rampazzetto;
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Electrochemical battery invented in 1800 by Alessandro Volta;
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The first Newspaper was invented in Venice in 1556;
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The Espresso machine was invented by Angelo Moriondo in 1884;
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Liposuction medical procedure invented by Dr Giorgio Fischer in 1974;
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Medical Thermometer, invented by Sanctorius in the early 1600s;
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Epidemiology, a discipline invented by Girolamo Fracastoro in the 16th Century;
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Montessori education was developed by Maria Montessori in 1907;
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Nitroglycerin, first synthesized, by Ascanio Sobrero in 1847;
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Parachute, Leonardo da Vinci in 1485;
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The anemometer was developed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450;
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Corpus Juris Civilis - 450 BC;
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The Casino, invented in 1638 by the Great Council of Venice:
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The first Opera was written by Jacopo Peri in 1597;
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Polypropylene was discovered by Giulio Natta and began to be manufactured in 1957;
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A release skewer attaching a wheel to a bicycle was invented by Tullio Campagnolo in 1927;
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Stem cells as vectors for Gene Therapy; it was in 1992 that Doctor Claudio Bordignon performed the first procedure of gene therapy;
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The Piano was invented in 1698 by Bartolomeo Cristofori;
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Tontine was the first form of life insurance developed by Lorenzo De Tonti in 1653.
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