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. 1Hans Zimmerborn 1957 · Germany · Musicians3 decades
  2. 2Till Lindemannborn 1963 · Germany · Musicians0 decades
  3. 3Nina Hagenborn 1955 · Germany · Musicians5 decades
  4. 4Dieter Bohlenborn 1954 · Germany · Musicians3 decades
  5. 5Nico1938-1988 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  6. 6Nenaborn 1960 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  7. 7Carl Orff1895-1982 · Germany · Musicians9 decades
  8. 8Thomas Andersborn 1963 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  9. 9Klaus Meineborn 1948 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  10. 10Sandraborn 1962 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  11. 11Karlheinz Stockhausen1928-2007 · Germany · Musicians7 decades
  12. 12Anne-Sophie Mutterborn 1963 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  13. 13Wilhelm Furtwängler1886-1954 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  14. 14Herbert Grönemeyerborn 1956 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  15. 15Rodion Shchedrin1932-2025 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  16. 16C. C. Catchborn 1964 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  17. 17Doro Peschborn 1964 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  18. 18Wolf Biermannborn 1936 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  19. 19Kurt Student1890-1978 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  20. 20Lale Andersen1905-1972 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  21. 21Florian Schneider1947-2020 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  22. 22Paul Landersborn 1964 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  23. 23Kurt Weill1900-1950 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  24. 24Elisabeth Schwarzkopf1915-2006 · Germany · Musiciansnot measured-
  25. 25André Previn1929-2019 · Germany · Musiciansnot 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.