The most words pronounced in one minute in Italian is 380, achieved by Vanessa Morabito (Italy) at the shopping centre La Galleria – Center Gross, in Bovalino, Italy, on 8 February 2012.

The oldest design for a humanoid robot was sketched by Leonardo Da Vinci (Italy) around 1495. Although his sketches of the finished model have never been found, other Da Vinci drawings show a human knight with anatomically correct joints operated by cables and pulleys.

The world’s oldest botanical garden, which remains on its original site, is the Orto Botanico in Padua, Italy, which was created in 1545.  The original design of a circular central plot (symbolising the world), surrounded by a ring of water remains, as does its original purpose – a place for scientific research. The oldest botanical garden ever is the Botanical Garden of Pisa, Italy, which was founded in 1544, but was relocated twice, before settling on its present site since 1591.

The oldest species of plant cultivated and used for decoration is the rose (genus Rosa, family Rosaceae). Documents dated to AD 50 suggest that ancient Romans grew the flowers in vast plantations and local hothouses to ensure a year-round supply of medicinal extracts, cooking ingredients and ornamentation. These rose blooms were used to decorate buildings, furniture and people whilst petals were laid to create rose carpets and walkways. There is evidence dating back 5,000 years when the Chinese and Japanese created rose gardens, although it Continue reading →

Duff Gibson (Canada, b. 11 August 1966) was aged 39 years 190 days when he won gold in the skeleton on 17 February 2006 at the XX Winter Olympiad in Turin, Italy.

The first irrational number discovered was the square root of 2, by Hippasus of Metapontum (then part of Magna Graecia, southern Italy) around 500 BC. A student of the great mathematician Pythagoras, Hippasus proved that ‘root two’ could never be expressed as a fraction. Little is known about the secretive Pythagoras and his students, but history suggests that Pythagoras was so enraged by this threat to his concept of perfection in numbers that he ordered Hippasus to be executed by drowning. Only after Pythagoras’ death Continue reading →

The earliest recorded mention of the arms company Beretta (Italy) came in 1526. The business has been passed down through 16 generations, but its headquarters are still based in the village of Gardone Val Trompia near Brescia, Italy.

The longest surviving soldier on record is Antonio Todde (Italy) who served during World War I. Born 22 January 1889, he died on 4 January 2002 aged 112 years 346 days, surpassing the previous record held by John B. Salling of the US Confederate Army by 41 days.

The oldest alpine skiier to win an Olympic gold is Kjetil André Aamodt (Norway, b. 2 September 1971), who won his fourth career Olympic gold in Turin, Italy, on 18 February 2006, aged 34 years 169 days. He won it in the super giant slalom event.

The most circular jumps on a wall are 11 and were achieved by Aung Zaw Oo (USA) on the set of Lo Show dei Record in Rome, Italy on 24 March 2010. The record was part of the Italian TV series “Lo Show dei Record”.