I Canti: reading level, length and free edition

Name: I Canti
Author: Giacomo Leopardi

I Canti by Giacomo Leopardi is a poetry in Italian. Our team rates it C1. It runs to 25,789 words with 6,145 different word forms, about 2–4.5 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.

By the Readlang Mobile team (an independent app, not affiliated with readlang.com). Updated 31 October 2026.

Author: Giacomo Leopardi
Language: Italian
Level: C1
Form: poetry
Words: 25,789
Different word forms: 6,145
Forms for 95% / 98%: 4,856 / 5,630
Reading time: 2–4.5 h
Free edition: Project Gutenberg

La raccolta poetica centrale del pessimismo e della meditazione leopardiana.

Is I Canti right for your level?

To recognise 95% of the running words in I Canti, you need its 4,856 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 5,630. The median Italian C1 book in our table needs 4,856 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is typical for its level: number 3 of 5, easiest first.

A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.

Which words should you know before you start?

These are the words that I Canti uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 20 Italian books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.

fato 40
prole 24
mortal 20
affanni 19
desio 17
beltà 16
guardo 16
giammai 15
nasce 15
menti 14
vecchiezza 14
mortali 14
misera 13
novo 13
opre 13

How does it begin?

Come prefazione alla ristampa dei Canti , che nel 1836-37, con l’aiuto del fido Ranieri, veniva preparando per l’editore parigino Baudry ( Epist. III 39-42; Nuovi documenti , 267-71; Luiso, Ranieri e L. , 2-5), il Leopardi avebbe messa la seguente

From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.

How long does it take to read?

Hours to read *I Canti* (25,789 words) at four reading speeds.
Words	100 wpm	150 wpm	200 wpm	250 wpm
25,789	4.5 h	3 h	2 h	1.5 h

Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?

Where can you read it for free?

The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #55236. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.

To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.