100 Notable alumni of Federico II University of Naples

Domenico Pittella was an Italian politician who was a member of the Senate of the Republic from 1972 to 1983. A member of the Italian Socialist Party, Pittella began his career in the late 1960s and 1970s, emerging as one of the most popular members of the Regional Council of Basilicata. As a member of Basilicata's regional council, he was...

Ortensio Zecchino is an Italian academic and politician. He is a former Italian Minister of University and Research.

Cinzia Giorgio is an Italian writer.

Nicola Zingarelli was an Italian philologist, the founder of the Zingarelli Italian dictionary.

Felice Ippolito was an Italian geologist, politician and engineer. He was a fiery promoter of the development of nuclear energy in Italy. His daughter is the actress Angelica Ippolito.

Guido Raimondi is an Italian judge born in Naples and former judge and President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Raimondi was nominated to the court by Italy and began his 9-year term as ECHR judge on 5 May 2010. He was the president of ECHR from 1 November 2015 until 4 May 2019.

Vito De Filippo is an Italian politician. He served as the president of Basilicata from 6 May 2005 until his resignation on 24 April 2013 during his second term. From 2014 to 2018, he served as the state undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in Matteo Renzi and Enrico Letta's governments, respectively, and...

Stefano Incerti is an Italian film director. He has directed more than ten films since 1995.

Fulvio Martusciello is an Italian politician and a member of the European Parliament since 2014.

Alessio Fasano is an Italian-born medical doctor, pediatric gastroenterologist and researcher. He currently holds many roles, including professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, both in Boston. He serves as director of the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment at MassGeneral Hospital for Children and co-director of the...

Vincenzo Napoli is an Italian politician.

Gerardo D'Ambrosio was an Italian magistrate and politician.

Annibale de Gasparis was an Italian astronomer, known for discovering asteroids and his contributions to theoretical astronomy.

Valeria Valente is an Italian politician and lawyer. Valente is a member of the Democratic Party. She was born in Naples, Italy in 1976. When she was very young she was active in the politics of the student movement. At 18 she became the coordinator for the city of Naples and a year later joined the National Union of Students,...

Maria Mikhailovna Bakunina was a Russian-Italian chemist and geologist. Born in Siberia, she moved to southern Italy at a young age, taking up chemistry during her education. By the time of her graduation from the University of Naples, she was already a pioneering figure in stereochemistry and made a number of advancements in applied chemistry. During the early 20th century,...

Ruggero Maria Santilli is an Italo-American nuclear physicist. Mainstream scientists dismiss his theories as fringe science.

Renato Ruggiero was an Italian diplomat and politician. He was Director-General of the World Trade Organization from 1995 to 1999 and briefly served as Italy's Foreign Minister in 2001.

Mario Rosario Morelli is an Italian judge. He was Judge of the Constitutional Court of Italy between 12 December 2011 and 12 December 2020, and served as its president from 16 September 2020.

Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, 8th Marquess of Fusignano was an Italian jurist and statesman.

Vincenzo Tiberio was an Italian researcher and medical officer of the Medical Corps of the Italian Navy and physician at the University of Naples. Observing that people complained of intestinal disorders after the walls of a well which supplied drinking water was cleaned off, he published a little noticed 1895 paper on the bactericidal effect of some molds, 35 years...

Donato Toma is an Italian politician, president of Molise from 2018 to 2023.

Giuseppe Galasso was an Italian historian and politician. He has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1983 to 1994.

Pietro Giannone was an Italian philosopher, historian and jurist born in Ischitella, in the province of Foggia, Kingdom of Naples. He opposed the papal influence in Naples, for which he was excommunicated and imprisoned for twelve years until his death.

Piero De Luca is an Italian politician of the Democratic Party serving as a member of the Chamber of Deputies. He was first elected in the 2018 general election, and was re-elected in 2022. He is the son of Vincenzo De Luca.

Francesco de Martino was an Italian jurist, politician, lifetime senator (1991–2002) and former Vice President of the Council of Ministers. He was considered by many to be the conscience of the Italian Socialist Party.

Antonio Manganelli was an Italian police chief, and head of Polizia di Stato from June 2007, when he replaced Gianni De Gennaro.

Bruno Forte is an Italian Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto since 2004.

Arturo Scotto is an Italian politician.

Francesco Mario Pagano was an Italian jurist, author, thinker, and the founder of the Neapolitan school of law. He is regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers. A moderate reformist, he is seen as a forerunner of the Italian unification.

Franco Roberti is an Italian magistrate and politician, member of the European Parliament since 2019.

Valeria Parrella is an Italian author, playwright and activist.

Carla Ruocco is an Italian politician from the Five Star Movement who served in the Chamber of Deputies from 2013 to 2022.

Filippo Patroni Griffi is an Italian politician and magistrate who served as Minister of Public Administration between 2011 and 2013.

Elio Vito is an Italian politician, member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy from 1992 to 2022.

Marcello Pittella is an Italian politician who served as president of Basilicata from 2013 to 2019. Like his father and older brother, Pittella began his political career in the Italian Socialist Party. He and his brother later joined the Labour Federation and the Democrats of the Left within the centre-left coalition, at that time known as The Olive Tree. In...

Gaetano Filangieri, 5th Prince of Satriano was an Italian jurist and philosopher. Highly polemical in regard to the political and legal system of the ancien régime, and opposed to the privilege of the aristocracy and the extreme power of the magistracy, Filangieri fought in favor of a constitutional system based on the rights of man.

Alfonso Gatto was an Italian poet and writer. Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century and a major exponent of hermetic poetry.

Francesco De Lorenzo is an Italian physician and politician and is a member of the Italian Liberal Party.

Giuseppe Mercalli was an Italian volcanologist and Catholic priest. He is known best for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquake intensity.

Antonio Labriola was an Italian Marxist theoretician and philosopher. Although an academic philosopher and never an active member of any Marxist political party, his thought exerted influence on many political theorists in Italy during the early 20th century, including the founder of the Italian Liberal Party, Benedetto Croce, as well as the leaders of the Italian Communist Party, Antonio Gramsci...

Roberto Esposito is an Italian political philosopher and critical theorist, notable for his contributions to biopolitics, Italian Thought, and metapolitics. He currently serves as emeritus professor of theoretical philosophy at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.

Gennaro Migliore is an Italian politician of the Italia Viva party who has served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2006 until 2008 and again since 2013.

Luigj Gurakuqi, also called Louis Gurakuchi, was an Albanian writer and politician. He was an important figure of the Albanian National Awakening and was honored with the People's Hero of Albania medal.

Ivan Scalfarotto is an Italian politician and activist, committed to LGBT rights. A member of the Italian Parliament, he was a Deputy Minister at the Italian Ministry of Interior.

Clio Maria Bittoni was an Italian lawyer who specialised in labour law. She was the widow of Giorgio Napolitano, who was the President of Italy from 2006 until 2015.

Nicola Abbagnano was an Italian existential philosopher.

Achille Bonito Oliva is an Italian art critic and historian of contemporary art. Since 1968 he has taught history of contemporary art at La Sapienza, the university of Rome. He has written extensively on contemporary art and contemporary artists. He originated the term Transavanguardia to describe the new direction taken in the late 1970s by artists such as Sandro Chia,...

Paolo Maddalena is an Italian magistrate and academic, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Italy from 2002 to 2011.

Raffaele Cantone is an Italian magistrate. In March 2014, he was appointed president of the National Anti-Corruption Authority by the then Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi; he held the office until October 2019. In June 2020, Cantone was appointed by the High Council of the Judiciary as the chief prosecutor in Perugia.

Eduardo Ciannelli was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli.

Girolamo de Rada was an Arbëreshë folklorist, journalist, lawyer, playwright, poet, rilindas and writer. He is regarded as one of the most influential Albanian writers of the 19th century who played an essential role in the Albanian Renaissance.

Nicola Mancino is an Italian politician who served as president of the Senate of the Republic from 1996 to 2001. He was also president of Campania's regional parliament from 1965 to 1971, governor of Campania from 1971 to 1972 and Minister of the Interior from 1992 to 1994.

Renato Caccioppoli was an Italian mathematician, known for his contributions to mathematical analysis, including the theory of functions of several complex variables, functional analysis, measure theory.

Ernesto de Martino was an Italian anthropologist, philosopher and historian of religions. He studied with Benedetto Croce and Adolfo Omodeo, and did field research with Diego Carpitella into the funeral rituals of Lucania and tarantism.

Nicola Materazzi was an Italian mechanical engineer who developed several sports and racing cars, including the Ferrari 288 GTO, Ferrari F40, Bugatti EB110, and B Engineering Edonis. He was one of Italy's leading turbocharging specialists from the mid-1970s, a respected sports car and motorcycle engineer, and is sometimes referred to as "Mr. F40" or the "father of the F40".

Franzo Grande Stevens was an Italian lawyer. He was famous for being the lawyer of the Agnelli family, and was one of the triad of longtime advisors of Gianni Agnelli. He continued to advise Agnelli's grandson and heir John Elkann. He served as chairman of Juventus from 2003 to 2006, when the club was relegated due to Calciopoli.

Sergio Costa is an Italian military official and politician, who served in the government of Italy as Minister of the Environment between 2018 and 2021. He is a member of the Five Star Movement.

Aboubakar Soumahoro is an Ivorian-born Italian politician, trade unionist and activist who is serving as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Emilia-Romagna constituency since 2022.

Chiara Valerio is an Italian author and essayist.

Ferdinando Imposimato was an Italian magistrate and the honorary president of the Supreme Court of Italy.

Antonio Salandra was a conservative Italian politician, journalist, and writer who served as the 21st prime minister of Italy between 1914 and 1916. He ensured the entry of Italy in World War I on the side of the Triple Entente (the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire) to fulfil Italy's irredentist claims.

Nicola Romeo was an Italian engineer and entrepreneur mostly known for founding the car manufacturer Alfa Romeo. He served as a senator in the 18th Legislature of the Kingdom of Italy.

Raffaele La Capria was an Italian novelist and screenwriter.

Giovanni Saverio Furio "Gianni" Pittella is an Italian politician who is serving as the mayor of Lauria since 2021. Like his father and younger brother, Pittella began his political career in the Italian Socialist Party. He and his brother later joined the Labour Federation and the Democrats of the Left within the centre-left coalition, at that time known as The...

Italo Bocchino is an Italian politician and journalist.

Bartolo Longo, TOSD was an Italian lawyer and former Satanic priest who returned to the Catholic faith and became a Dominican tertiary, dedicating his life to the rosary and the Virgin Mary. He was eventually awarded a papal knighthood of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIV on October 19, 2025.

Gaetano Manfredi is an Italian university professor and politician. He has been mayor of Naples since 2021, and has served as the Minister of University and Research in the second government of Giuseppe Conte from 2020 to 2021.

Luigi de Magistris is an Italian politician and former prosecutor who served as mayor of Naples from 2011 to 2021. He began his prosecutor career in 1995, attracing significant media attention for his investigations, and served in this role between Naples and Catanzaro until 2009. He was also a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2011. In...

Mario Clemente Mastella is an Italian politician who has been the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He also served as leader of the Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR), a minor centrist and Christian-democratic Italian party. Mastella, who began his career in the Christian Democracy (DC) party, being elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1976, is known...

Paolo Cirino Pomicino is an Italian politician, who was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2006 Italian general election representing the Christian Democracy for Autonomies.

Immacolata "Imma" Battaglia is an Italian left-wing politician and LGBT activist.

Gennaro Sangiuliano is an Italian journalist, writer, and politician who served as Minister of Culture in the Meloni Cabinet. He was the director of the Roma newspaper in Naples from 1996 to 2001 and of TG2 from 2018 to 2022, as well as the deputy director of the Libero newspaper and of TG1 from 2009 to 2018.

Pasquale Squitieri was an Italian film director and screenwriter.

Errico Malatesta was an Italian anarchist, theorist 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....

Pope Urban VI, born Bartolomeo Prignano ( Italian pronunciation: [bartoloˈmɛːo priɲˈɲaːno]), was head of the Catholic Church from 8 April 1378 to his death, in October 1389. He was the last pope elected from outside the College of Cardinals. His pontificate began shortly after the end of the Avignon Papacy. It was marked by immense conflict between rival factions as...

Luciana Lamorgese is an Italian civil servant and prefect who served as Minister of the Interior in the governments of Prime Ministers Giuseppe Conte and Mario Draghi from 2019 to 2022.

Luca Parmitano is an Italian astronaut in the European Astronaut Corps for the European Space Agency (ESA). He was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. Parmitano is also a colonel and test pilot for the Italian Air Force. He is the first Italian (and the third European) to command the International Space Station (ISS) during Expedition 61.

Alphonsus Maria de Liguori CSsR was an Italian Catholic bishop and saint, as well as a spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, scholastic philosopher, and theologian. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, in November 1732.

Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death, in August 1559. While serving as papal nuncio in Spain, he developed an anti-Spanish outlook that later coloured his papacy. In response to an invasion of part of the Papal States by Spain during...

Umberto Nobile was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer.

Roberto Gualtieri is an Italian historian and politician of the Democratic Party (PD), incumbent Mayor of Rome since 2021 and Minister of Economy and Finances in the second government of Giuseppe Conte from 2019 until 2021. He previously was a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019, where he chaired the influential Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee within...

Luciano De Crescenzo was an Italian writer, film actor, director and engineer.

Vincenzo Salemme is an Italian actor, comedian, and filmmaker.

Alessandro Preziosi is an Italian actor.

Giambattista Vico was an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist during the Italian Enlightenment. He criticized the expansion and development of modern rationalism, finding Cartesian analysis and other types of reductionism impractical to human life, and he was an apologist for classical antiquity and the Renaissance humanities, in addition to being the first expositor of the fundamentals of social science...

Lorenzo Giovanni "Renzo" Arbore Knight Grand Cross OMRI is an Italian television host, singer, actor and film director.

Giovanni Leone was an Italian politician, jurist and university professor who was the president of Italy from 1971 to 1978. A founding member of Christian Democracy (DC), Leone briefly served as Prime Minister of Italy from June to December 1963 and again from June to December 1968. He was also President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1955 to 1963.

Sylva Koscina was a Yugoslav-born Italian actress, best known for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules (Steve Reeves) in Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1960). She also played Paul Newman's romantic interest in The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968).

Giuseppe Moscati was an Italian doctor, scientific researcher, and university professor noted both for his pioneering work in biochemistry and for his piety. Moscati was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1987; his feast day is 16 November.

Giampaolo Morelli is an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is particularly known for his television work; among his roles is as the title character in the L'ispettore Coliandro series.

Thomas Aquinas OP was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, theologian, and philosopher. He is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Catholic theology and Western philosophy.

Giordano Bruno was an Italian philosopher, poet, alchemist, astronomer, cosmological theorist, and esotericist. He is known for his cosmological theories, which conceptually extended to include the then-novel Copernican model. He practised Hermeticism and took a mystical approach to exploring the universe. He proposed that the stars were distant suns surrounded by their own planets (exoplanets), and he raised the possibility...

Paolo Sorrentino is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and writer. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Italian cinema working today. He is known for visually striking and complex dramas and has often been compared to Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni. He has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award accepted for Best International Film, a BAFTA...

Giorgio Napolitano was an Italian politician who served as the president of Italy from 2006 to 2015. At the time the longest-serving president in Italian history and the first to achieve re-election, he played a dominant role in Italian politics, leading some critics to refer to him as Re Giorgio ("King Giorgio").

Roberto Saviano is an Italian writer, journalist, and screenwriter. In his writings, including articles and his book Gomorrah, he uses literature and investigative reporting to tell of the economic reality of the territory and business of organized crime in Italy, in particular the Camorra crime syndicate, and of organized crime more generally.

Benedetto Croce, OCI, COSML was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography, and aesthetics. A political liberal in most regards, he formulated a distinction between liberalism (as support for civil liberties) and "liberism" (as support for laissez-faire economics and capitalism). Croce had considerable influence on other Italian intellectuals, from Marxists to...

Viola Carofalo is an Italian politician and former national spokesperson and leader of Power to the People, a coalition of parties, movements and associations (about a hundred among which Communist Refoundation Party, Italian Communist Party and The Other Europe) which contested the 2018 Italian general election.

Samantha Cristoforetti OMRI is an Italian European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, former Italian Air Force pilot and engineer. She is the second of two women sent into space by ESA and the first from Italy. Cristoforetti holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut (199 days, 16 hours), and she held the record for the longest...

Prince Jerzy Ossoliński h. Topór was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), Crown Court Treasurer from 1632, governor (voivode) of Sandomierz from 1636, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire since 1634, Crown Deputy Chancellor from 1639, Great Crown Chancellor from 1643, starost of Bydgoszcz (1633), Luboml (1639), Puck and Bolim (1647), magnate, politician, statesman and diplomat. Famous for being extensively educated, he...