The Teatro Olimpico ("Olympic Theatre") is a theatre in Vicenza, northern Italy: constructed in 1580-1585, it is the oldest surviving enclosed theatre in the world. The theatre was the final design by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and was not completed until after his death. The trompe-l'œil onstage scenery, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, to give the appearance of long streets receding to a distant horizon, was installed in 1585 for the very first performance held in the theatre, and is the oldest surviving stage set still in existence.

The Teatro Olimpico is, along with the Teatro all'antica in Sabbioneta and the Teatro Farnese in Parma, one of only three Renaissance theatres remaining in existence. Both these theatres were based, in large measure, on the Teatro Olimpico.

Since 1994, the Teatro Olimpico, together with other Palladian buildings in and around Vicenza, has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".

Debbie Wiseman MBE (born 10 May 1963 in London, England) is a composer for film and television.

Debbie Wiseman started composing music at the early age of 8. She is one of the UK’s most successful female music ambassadors.

She studied at Trinity College of Music Junior Department, and then piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Her many credits for television include the theme music for Jackanory, Children's Hospital, The Upper Hand, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Doomwatch (1999), Tom's Midnight Garden, My Uncle Silas, Warriors, Shrinks, Jekyll and The Promise.

Her film work includes Wilde (which won her an Ivor Novello Award), The Truth About Love, Arsène Lupin, Female Perversions, Flood, and Tom & Viv.

Debbie has been nominated for two Ivor Novello Awards for Wilde and Death Of Yugoslavia, and has won a TRIC Award for The Good Guys and an RTS Award for Warriors. In 2007 she was awarded the Gold Badge of Merit by the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters.

Wiseman presented the Channel 4 series Backtracks, examining the role of music in film and television productions. She was awarded an MBE in the 2004 New Year Honours List for services to the film industry.

Matteo Renzi (born Florence, 11 January 1975) is an Italian politician. He was elected as Mayor of Florence on June 22, 2009 with 59.96% of the vote. In February 2011 he publicly called on all the Italian politicians of the Berlusconi era to retire, citing the fact that Berlusconi is only six years younger than Renzi's grandmother.

Renzi was born in Florence in 1975. He studied in Florence, and then he graduated in law in Florence University. He joined the Italian People's Party in 1996, and became Provincial Secretary in 1999. He was President of the Province of Florence from 2004 to 2009, winning 58.8% of the ballots in the elections of 12 June 2004, representing a centre-left coalition.

On 9 June 2009 in the elections for the Mayor of Florence, Renzi (as a member of the Democratic Party) obtained 47.57% of the ballots, against 32% for Giovanni Galli, the candidate of the centre-right coalition headed by The People of Freedom party.

In 2010, while his popularity was increasing, he organised a meeting in Florence in Leopolda Station to discuss about Italian politic, after stating that a complete change was necessary also in his party. That is the reason why media gave him the name "scrapper".

Andrea Palladio (30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture. All of his buildings are located in what was the Venetian Republic, but his teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide recognition. The city of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

He was born on November 30, 1508 in Padua under the name of Andrea Di Pietro della Gondola and lived until August 19, 1580. His father Pietro called "della Gondola" was a miller. From early on, Andrea Palladio was introduced into the work of building. In Padua he gained his first experiences as a stonecutter in the sculpture workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano, who is said to have imposed particularly hard working conditions. At the age of 16 he moved to Vicenza where he would reside for most of his life. In fact, in April 1524, after one failed attempt, Palladio managed to run away to Vicenza. Here he became an assistant in the Pedemuro studio, a leading workshop of stonecutters and masons. He joined a guild of stonemasons and bricklayers. He was employed as a stonemason to make monuments and decorative sculptures. These sculptures reflected the Mannerist style of the architect Michele Sanmicheli.

Franco Califano (born 14 September 1938) is an Italian lyricist, musician, singer and actor. Born on an airplane above Tripoli, he has lived most of his life in Rome (in whose dialect he usually sings) and Milan. He was arrested in 1970 and again 1984 for possession of drugs. Aside from writing songs for his albums, he also composed lyrics for singers such as Ornella Vanoni, Dario Baldan Bembo, Peppino di Capri, Mia Martini and others.