Italians are known for their explorers, famous opera singers and
brilliant chefs. But what we might not be aware of is that Italians are
also great inventors. In fact, many objects that we use in our daily
lives would not be there if curious, imaginative and skillful Italian
folk had not created them!
These are 10 Italian inventions that most of us use daily:
Cologne
After
long historical debates it has been proven that the inventor of Cologne
was Gian Paolo Feminis. He emigrated to the small city of Cologne, in
Germany from a village near Santa Maria Maggiore in Piemonte, where he
passed his secret recipe on to a fellow villager, Giovanni Maria Farina.
In 1708 Giovanni Maria Farina wrote to his brother; "I
have discovered a scent that reminds me of a spring morning in Italy,
of mountain narcissus, orange blossom just after the rain. It gives me
great refreshment, strengthens my senses and imagination." He would come to name this new composition Eau de Cologne.
In 1709 Gian Paolo Feminis made his own cologne, called "Aqua Admirabilis"- which quickly became one of Napoleon's favorites.
Ice cream cone
"Would
you like a cup or a cone?" - has become an ordinary question that we
answer almost without thinking. It is hard for us to imagine that only a
hundred years ago ice-cream was sold in serving glasses called "penny
licks" (because you had to lick the ice cream from the glass, and it
cost a penny to do so). As you can guess, it was not very sanitary, nor
convenient. Glasses would break; people would often walk off with them
and on hot summer days, the poor ice vendors were not able to keep up
with demand, because they were constantly washing glasses returned by
other customers.
Fortunately, in 1896 an enterprising salesman,
Italo Marchiony,started selling the first edible containers filled with
ice cream. Seven years later he also obtained a patent for a machine
that produced edible ice cream cones that many of us like so much.
Pizza
'Pizza'
is one of the very few words which is understood all over the world.
And there is no doubt about the origin of this cheesy snack. The first
pizza was "invented" in Naples around 1860s and was served without
cheese. In 1889 to impress Queen Margherita of Savoy during her visit to
Naples, she was served a pizza resembling the colors of the Italian
flag, red (tomato), white (mozzarella) and green (basil). Rumors have it
that she loved it and the delighted Neapolitans named this type of
pizza after the queen - Pizza Margherita.
Eyeglasses
The
thirteenth century Italian monk, Salvino D'Armate is credited with
inventing wearable eye glasses, complete with convex and concave lenses.
The first eyeglasses were balanced on the bridge of the nose, as stems
were introduced four centuries later.
The espresso machine
You
might ask yourself what inspired a person to invent an espresso
machine? The answer is simple - frustration! In 1903 Luigi Bezzera, the
owner of a manufacturing business in Milan, became really frustrated
with how long it took his employees to take their coffee break. He
figured that if he could find a way to speed up the coffee making
process, his employees would spend less time on their coffee breaks and
more time working. His coffee maker (which he patented the same year)
used a combination of water and steam, forced under high pressure, to
brew the coffee at a rapid pace. Bezzera called his new method
"espresso," which in Italian means "pressed out." Despite his brilliant
invention, his employees continue to take long coffee breaks, spending
less time brewing the coffee and more time enjoying it. J
The typewriter
There is no single answer to the question who was the first real inventor
of the typewriter? What we do know is, that in 1808, Pellegrino Turri
supplied a typewriter to a blind countess whose letters have been
preserved up to this day.
Pretzels
What can
be better than a warm, freshly-baked pretzel sprinkled with salt
crystals and dipped in yellow mustard dressing? Surprisingly enough, we
have an Italian monk to thank for this yummy treat. In 610, he was
baking unleavened bread for Lent when he had a brilliant idea to reward
the small children who had learned their prayers. He twisted the dough
so it looked like arms crossing the chest in supplication, baked it, and
named it "pretiola", or "little reward" in Latin. When 'pretiola'
arrived in Germany, they started to call it 'bretzel'.And 1400 years
later we are still munching on the monk's delicious invention.
Violin
The
first violin was created by Andrea Amati in Cremona. The knowledge of
violin making continued to pass through the Amati family for several
generations. Eventually, the highly prized and secret method of creating
violins found its way to two men: Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) and
Andrea Guarneri (1626-1698). Very few violins from this era still exist,
they are the most expensive and most highly prized violins today. The
Vieuxtemps Guarneri violin, named after a 19th century musician Henri
Vieuxtemps, was put up for auction this year for an astounding price
of $18 million, making it the most expensive musical instrument in the
world!
Modern Banks
Strange as it may
sound, the first modern banks appeared not in Switzerland, but in Genoa
in 12th century. During this time there was a need to transfer large
sums of money to finance the Crusades, allowing the movement of money
without the usual risk of robbery while traveling. In 1156 two Genoese
brothers borrowed 115 pounds and agreed to reimburse the bank's agents
in Constantinople the sum of 460 bezants one month after their arrival
in that city. This is known as the earliest foreign exchange contract.It
is worth mentioning that the world's oldest bank still in business can
also be found in Italy. It is the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and it
has been operating since 1472.
Jacuzzi
The
invention of the Jacuzzi (pronounced "Yakutzi" in Italy) is often
attributed to Roy Jacuzzi, an Italian immigrant to the US. However,
there is some evidence that the real inventor was Candido Jacuzzi, who
in 1968 incorporated jets into the sides of the tub to help his
15-month-old son, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, relieve pain.
No comments :
Post a Comment