Merito Acosta (1896-1963), a Cuban-born professional baseball player in the United States
Official honours were lavished on him from as early as 1725, when he was made a Knight of the Golden Spur; in February 1727, he was elected an accademico di merito of the Accademia di San Luca.
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (it: Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana)
He was awarded the National Order of Merit (Orden Nacional al Mérito) (1976), and the National Prize in Literature "Premio Eugenio Espejo" in 1987.
His Oración apologética por la España y su mérito literario (1786) is an excellent example of learned advocacy, far superior to similar efforts made by Carlo Denina and Antonio Cavanilles; and his posthumous Exequias de la lengua castellana (printed in the Biblioteca de autores españoles, vol. LXIII.) testifies to his scholarship and taste.
In 1949 the University of Padova conferred to her the laurea "honorary" and in 2005 the Italian President Ciampi awarded her the "Medaglia d'oro al merito civile".
In 2009, Stephan Winkelmann was awarded the decoration of Grand Officer in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Grande Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana).