Italian flag

Centuries named by their hundreds, like 'il Novecento'

When Italians talk about history, art or literature, they rarely say "the twentieth century". Instead they say il Novecento, literally "the nine hundred". In the same way, il Quattrocento is the 1400s, il Settecento is the 1700s and l'Ottocento is the 1800s. The thousand is simply left out, and the hundred that remains becomes the name of the whole century.

This trips English speakers up in two ways. First, the number does not match the English ordinal: Quattrocento contains a four, but it means the fifteenth century. Second, these names behave like ordinary nouns, so they need a definite article, a capital letter and the usual contractions such as nel and del. Without the article, quattrocento is just the number four hundred.

Word list
cinquecentoA2 five hundred il Cinquecento = the 1500s, 16th century duecentoA2 two hundred il Duecento = the 1200s, 13th century novecentoA2 nine hundred il Novecento = the 1900s, 20th century ottocentoA2 eight hundred l'Ottocento = the 1800s, 19th century quattrocentoA2 four hundred il Quattrocento = the 1400s, 15th century seicentoA2 six hundred il Seicento = the 1600s, 17th century settecentoA2 seven hundred il Settecento = the 1700s, 18th century trecentoA2 three hundred il Trecento = the 1300s, 14th century
How it works

Take the year, drop the thousand and keep the hundreds: 1400 becomes Quattrocento, 1900 becomes Novecento. The name covers every year that starts with those digits, so il Quattrocento runs from 1400 to 1499. That is why the number is always one less than the English ordinal: the 1400s are the fifteenth century.

Three things turn the plain number into a century name:

The definite article

Say il Novecento, never just Novecento. It contracts with prepositions as usual: nel Cinquecento, del Trecento, dall'Ottocento, all'inizio del Novecento.

A capital letter

il Seicento is the century, while seicento is the number 600.

Masculine singular

All of them take il, except l'Ottocento, which elides because it starts with a vowel.

The ordinal version also exists and means exactly the same: il Quattrocento is il quindicesimo secolo, often written il XV secolo. The hundreds name sounds more natural in conversation, guidebooks and museums, while the ordinal is common in more formal or technical writing.

Ho pagato cinquecento euro per il biglietto.
(I paid five hundred euros for the ticket.)
Questa chiesa è stata costruita nel Cinquecento.
(This church was built in the 16th century.)
The words
The Middle Ages and the early Renaissance

Il Duecento (1200s) and il Trecento (1300s) are the centuries of early Italian poetry and of Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio. Il Quattrocento (1400s) is the Florence of the Medici and of Botticelli.

San Francesco è vissuto nel Duecento.
(Saint Francis lived in the 13th century.)
Dante è il poeta più famoso del Trecento.
(Dante is the most famous poet of the 14th century.)
Botticelli è un pittore del Quattrocento.
(Botticelli is a 15th-century painter.)
From the High Renaissance to the Enlightenment

Il Cinquecento (1500s) is the age of Michelangelo, il Seicento (1600s) is the Baroque century, and il Settecento (1700s) brings Vivaldi and Goldoni.

Roma è piena di fontane del Seicento.
(Rome is full of 17th-century fountains.)
Venezia nel Settecento era una città molto ricca.
(In the 18th century Venice was a very rich city.)
The modern era

L'Ottocento (1800s) is the century of Italian unification and the great novel. Il Novecento (1900s) is the twentieth century. The same pattern continues with il Duemila for the 2000s.

A scuola leggiamo un romanzo dell'Ottocento.
(At school we're reading a 19th-century novel.)
Il film è ambientato all'inizio del Novecento.
(The film is set in the early twentieth century.)
Watch out

The most common mistake is translating the number literally. Il Novecento is not the 900s, and il Cinquecento is not the 500s. The names always point to the second millennium, so they only work from il Duecento to il Novecento, plus il Duemila. For earlier centuries Italians use the ordinal: the 900s are il decimo secolo (il X secolo).

The second mistake is dropping the article. In English you can say "art from the 1500s", but in Italian it has to be l'arte del Cinquecento, not l'arte di Cinquecento.

You will also meet adjectives built on these names, such as quattrocentesco (15th-century) and novecentesco (20th-century). And if someone says la Cinquecento with a feminine article, they mean the famous little Fiat car, not the century.

Summary

To name a century from the 1200s to the 1900s, drop the thousand, capitalise the hundred and put a definite article in front: il Quattrocento, nel Settecento, dell'Ottocento. Remember that the number is one less than the English ordinal, so il Novecento is the 1900s, the twentieth century.