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. 1Steven Spielbergborn 1946 · United States · Directors5 decades
  2. 2Woody Allenborn 1935 · United States · Directors6 decades
  3. 3Alfred Hitchcock1899-1980 · United Kingdom · Directors9 decades
  4. 4Walt Disney1901-1966 · United States · Directors10 decades
  5. 5Stanley Kubrick1928-1999 · United States · Directors6 decades
  6. 6Quentin Tarantinoborn 1963 · United States · Directors3 decades
  7. 7James Cameronborn 1954 · Canada · Directors7 decades
  8. 8David Lynch1946-2025 · United States · Directors4 decades
  9. 9Martin Scorseseborn 1942 · United States · Directors5 decades
  10. 10Roman Polanskiborn 1933 · Poland · Directors6 decades
  11. 11George Lucasborn 1944 · United States · Directors6 decades
  12. 12Francis Ford Coppolaborn 1939 · United States · Directors5 decades
  13. 13Orson Welles1915-1985 · United States · Directors9 decades
  14. 14Tim Burtonborn 1958 · United States · Directors3 decades
  15. 15Hayao Miyazakiborn 1941 · Japan · Directors2 decades
  16. 16Ridley Scottborn 1937 · United Kingdom · Directors4 decades
  17. 17Akira Kurosawa1910-1998 · Japan · Directors6 decades
  18. 18Peter Jacksonborn 1961 · New Zealand · Directors6 decades
  19. 19Luc Bessonborn 1959 · France · Directors4 decades
  20. 20Rob Reiner1947-2025 · United States · Directors5 decades
  21. 21Andrei Tarkovsky1932-1986 · France · Directorsnot measured-
  22. 22Guillermo del Toroborn 1964 · Mexico · Directors3 decades
  23. 23Werner Herzogborn 1942 · Germany · Directors6 decades
  24. 24Ingmar Bergman1918-2007 · Sweden · Directors6 decades
  25. 25Buster Keaton1895-1966 · United States · Directors10 decades
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.