One hundred words that made history for the 100th anniversary of Treccani

“heavy” volumes, a symbol of knowledge the elegant format on the brown gold profile cover, or red, green … many in Italy have the famous “Treccani” as they say in jargon, the Encyclopedia par excellence the “big” or the “small”, the vocabulary, the dictionary, the volumes on the arts, the sciences … Treccani or, the most complete and beautiful encyclopedia, always updated, which also fills the scene on the shelf, ” furnish “with his knowledge the rooms of the house or office. Those volumes full of “everything”, They are the result of the work of the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Giovanni Treccani who celebrates a century of life.

Founded on February 18, 1925 thanks to the initiative of Giovanni Treccani degli Alfieri and Giovanni Gentile, The Institute was born with the mission of Make, update, publish and disseminate the Italian encyclopedia of sciences, letters and arts. After a century, Treccani is still a multidisciplinary reference point of Italian excellence that accompanies the history of our country and testifies to its cultural identity. Treccani is a multifaceted reality projected towards the future thanks to an innovative cross media model that rests on a unique cultural heritage of letters, history, language, art, science, music, sports and traditions.

Treccani is above all a large community of people who dedicate their commitment to share knowledge and favor its active participation, with the responsibility of enhancing an invaluable humanistic and scientific heritage. Treccani’s 100 years have been celebrated with an event, in the presence of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. PEr the opportunity, the Institute has carried out a study on 100 words, in 100 years, A collection of terms that made history. These are words that allow you to reread a century through the language, one decade at a time.

The 100 words mark this century of activity and indicate a path, an evolution of the concepts – words over time that have also characterized events. The identification of a single word and event for each of the last 100 years was entrusted to an arbitrary selection, led by a committee of historians and linguists, whose work has led to Associate a characterizing or significant historical data every year that could be referable to a particular semantic field, for direct reference or by deduction.

A selection influenced by the historical criterion, which has its roots in the origin of the Italian Encyclopedia of Sciences, Letters and Arts which, in the preface to the I Volume, says: “History, in truth, suggests the method of discussion that is It is convenient for an encyclopedia: the story with its sovereign power reconciliation of the most conflicting needs of the spirit and the most different aspects of the truth. Doctrine, every myth or theory, every people or slat exists and lives in its history, with its origin and with its development. horizons in which each fact has its causes and every truth its value; so that man is stripped of every vain pride and selfish presumption, learning to recognize with religious respect who is in him and who transcends him.

The method, therefore, of the Italian encyclopedia is the widest historical method, as well as in every single article as in the general system. Thanks to this method, the direction has spoken of collecting the writers of the most around each one, assigning to each varies mentality, To collaborate in a complete and organic exposure, objective and calm, of the sum of knowledge that are the result of any scientific research and constitute the essential elements of culture “.

Through the selection of the terms, the role that Treccani played in the development of the culture of our country is evident, recording through words and neologisms, The changes of the company that took place in the world from 1925 to today. The words of the centenary of the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia were identified with the contribution of a scientific committee made up of: Valeria Della Valle, Maria Chiara Giorgi, Saretta Marotta, Antonio Montefusco, Luigi Romani, Monica Trecca, Andrea Antonio Verardi.

What are the words

Scrolling through the list of 100 words and looking today, among the terms chosen between 2015 and 2025 we find: for 2015 Satire, for 2016 Brexitfor 2017 Meetoo, for 2018, the word chosen is Data, for 2019 Climatefor 2020, inevitable, the word is pandemic. 2021 has resilience, 2022 has Dietil 2023 Femicideil 2024 Artificial intelligence And 2025, Treccani. And it is right so, given that on February 18, 2025 the institute for the Italian encyclopedia formally opened its centenary.

Since the beginning of his activity, to the great works of the Italian Encyclopedia and the Biographical Dictionary of Italians, many others have been added. In 1996 the Institute also made its content on the Internet free of charge, anticipating online communication processes of culture that characterized the new millennium. Today like yesterday, Treccani continues in his work, remaining faithful to his original principles, always attentive to the needs and languages ​​of the present and with a look addressed to the future and the challenges in front of it.