215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time1900-1999

The 20th century

Whose names filled the books of the 20th century - anyone at all, however long dead - counted as mentions per million words printed, so a period that simply published more does not inflate anyone.

Talked about then

Whose names appeared most in Italian books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Giotto1267-1337 · 14th century · Italy · Artists5.4
  2. 2Dante Alighieri1265-1321 · 14th century · Writers5.0
  3. 3Caravaggio1571-1610 · 17th century · Italy · Artists3.8
  4. 4Leonardo da Vinci1452-1519 · 15th century · Italy · Artists3.8
  5. 5Antonio da Correggio1489-1534 · 16th century · Italy · Artists3.7
  6. 6Benedetto Croce1866-1952 · 20th century · Italy · Academics3.3
  7. 7Donato Bramante1444-1514 · 15th century · Italy · Architects2.9
  8. 8Donatello1386-1466 · 15th century · Artists2.8
  9. 9Giuseppe Mazzini1805-1872 · 19th century · Italy · Activists2.2
  10. 10Alessandro Manzoni1785-1873 · 19th century · Italy · Writers2.2
  11. 11Ugo Foscolo1778-1827 · 19th century · Writers2.1
  12. 12Pietro Perugino1448-1523 · 15th century · Italy · Artists2.0
  13. 13Tintoretto1519-1594 · 16th century · Italy · Artists1.9
  14. 14Francis of Assisi1182-1226 · 13th century · Italy · Writers1.8
  15. 15Giacomo Leopardi1798-1837 · 19th century · Italy · Writers1.8
  16. 16Benito Mussolini1883-1945 · 20th century · Italy · Politicians1.8
  17. 17Torquato Tasso1544-1595 · 16th century · Italy · Writers1.7
  18. 18Masaccio1401-1428 · 15th century · Italy · Artists1.7
  19. 19Giordano Bruno1548-1600 · 16th century · Italy · Academics1.6
  20. 20Lorenzo de' Medici1449-1492 · 15th century · Politicians1.6
  21. 21Galileo Galilei1564-1642 · 16th century · Italy · Scientists1.6
  22. 22Charles Borromeo1538-1584 · 16th century · Italy · Religious Figures1.6
  23. 23Giosuè Carducci1835-1907 · 19th century · Italy · Writers1.5
  24. 24Marco Polo1254-1324 · 13th century · Italy · Historical Figures1.4
  25. 25Giuseppe Verdi1813-1901 · 19th century · Italy · Musicians1.4
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Werner Herzogborn 1942 · Germany · Directors6 decades
  2. 2Leni Riefenstahl1902-2003 · Germany · Directors9 decades
  3. 3Wim Wendersborn 1945 · Germany · Directors5 decades
  4. 4Roland Emmerichborn 1955 · Germany · Directors3 decades
  5. 5Fritz Lang1890-1976 · Germany · Directors9 decades
  6. 6Rainer Werner Fassbinder1945-1982 · Germany · Directors5 decades
  7. 7Wolfgang Petersen1941-2022 · Germany · Directors4 decades
  8. 8Pina Bausch1940-2009 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  9. 9F. W. Murnau1888-1931 · Germany · Directors4 decades
  10. 10Ernst Lubitsch1892-1947 · Germany · Directors8 decades
  11. 11Volker Schlöndorffborn 1939 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  12. 12Lotte Reiniger1899-1981 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  13. 13Bernd Eichinger1949-2011 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  14. 14Christian Petzoldborn 1960 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  15. 15Margarethe von Trottaborn 1942 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  16. 16Douglas Sirk1897-1987 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  17. 17Christoph Schlingensief1960-2010 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  18. 18Doris Dörrieborn 1955 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  19. 19Rosa von Praunheim1942-2025 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  20. 20Michael Verhoeven1938-2024 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  21. 21Bernhard Grzimek1909-1987 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  22. 22Wolfgang Wagner1919-2010 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  23. 23Helmut Dietl1944-2015 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  24. 24Robert Siodmak1900-1973 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
  25. 25Veit Harlan1899-1964 · Germany · Directorsnot measured-
Show 75 more

How to read these rankings

  • Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
  • Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
  • Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.