The Grande Dizionario Italiano consists of over 250,000 headwords which form the  6 volume print set. It was published after ten years of work carried out by a team of some 30 lexicographers. It includes "usage labels" or coded markers which accompany each definition of single headwords; these provide the "exchange value" of words in terms of the extent and frequency of usage in current spoken and written language. The whole dictionary revolves around contemporary Italian: and with this in mind, the entry list has been entirely re-designed and enriched with the introduction of the real and tangible uses of knowledge and professions practiced in Italy today (from the mechanic to the geneticist to Internet providers). The lexicon of ancient literature is of course represented in its entirety; but, for instance, the obsolete elements of Dante’s language have been distinguished from those that are still alive and well-established in modern language.