Sanremo - Notable People

Notable People

• The Venerable Giorgio Baldassarre Oppezzi, a monk who died in 1525, and whose body was later discovered to be incorrupt, is buried here in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
• Maria Alexandrovna, consort of Alexander II of Russia, spent the winter of 1874 in Sanremo and as a gift to the city she donated the palms along the seaside walk of Corso Imperatrice (Empress Avenue).
• Italian-American mobster friend of Jimmy Burke, "Remo", whose name was derived from the city.
• Alfred Nobel bought a villa in Sanremo in 1891 and died there in 1896. Since 2002 it has housed a permanent exhibit on the most important discoveries of the 19th century including the research interests of Nobel himself. Sanremo continues to maintain its ties with Nobel, long after his death. Each 10 December large quantities of flowers sent by the province of Imperia, the city of Sanremo and the Board for Tourist Promotion of the Riviera dei fiori adorn the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony and Banquet in Stockholm.
• Italian writer Italo Calvino spent his youth in Sanremo and many of his novels, including Il Barone Rampante are reminiscent of his attachment to the city.
• Edward Lear, artist, illustrator and writer known for his nonsense poetry and limericks, lived and died in Sanremo. His tombstone is in the Foce Cemetery.
• The Italian actor and comedian Carlo Dapporto was born in Sanremo and became a household name in post-war Italy.
• The Sicilian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Luigi Pirandello lived in Sanremo in 1933-34 and was appointed artistic director of the Casino.
• The writer Tobias Smollett stayed a few days in Sanremo in 1765 and described it thus: "St. Remo is a pretty considerable town, well-built upon the declivity of a gently rolling hill...There is very little plain ground in this neighbourhood; but the hills are covered with oranges, lemons, pomegranates and olives....The women of St. Remo are much more handsome and better tempered than those of Provence." Travels through France and Italy (1766)
• Italian director and cinematographer Mario Bava was born in Sanremo in 1914.
• Italian-born sculptor Giuseppe Moretti lived in Sanremo in his final years and died here in February 1935. Moretti designed the world's largest cast iron statue, of the Roman god Vulcan (56 ft or 17 m), which stands atop Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama (USA). The statue is the symbol of the city.
• Italian progressive-impressionist painter Demetrio (Dino) Rosa lived in Sanremo during his youth and part of his adult live.
• Mehmed VI, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died in Sanremo on May 16, 1926.
• Juan Manuel Fangio won his first European Grand Prix in Sanremo-Ospedaletti in 1949.
• Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia from 1907 to 1909, died in Sanremo on April 5, 1925.
• Alex Liddi, who was born in Sanremo, became the first native Italian to play Major League Baseball, in 2011 with the Seattle Mariners.