Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), poet, essayist, philosopher and philologist, and pioneer of the romanticism movement Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957), tenor Giuseppe Persiani (1799-1869), opera composer Recanati was also the place of origin of some of the Italian paternal ancestors of famed Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi Menachem Recanati (1223-1290), Kabbalist and Rabbi