L’Innocente: reading level, length and free edition

Name: L’Innocente
Author: Gabriele D’Annunzio

L’Innocente by Gabriele D’Annunzio is a novel in Italian. Our team rates it B2. It runs to 77,999 words with 11,228 different word forms, about 6.5–13 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: Gabriele D’Annunzio
Language: Italian
Level: B2
Form: novel
Words: 77,999
Different word forms: 11,228
Forms for 95% / 98%: 7,329 / 9,669
Reading time: 6.5–13 h
Free edition: Project Gutenberg

Confessione di un marito tormentato dalla gelosia e dal proprio orgoglio estetizzante.

Is L’Innocente right for your level?

To recognise 95% of the running words in L’Innocente, you need its 7,329 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 9,669. The median Italian B2 book in our table needs 5,871 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is harder than most for its level: number 10 of 11, 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 L’Innocente 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.

alcova 39
sensazione 32
guardai 31
culla 31
uscii 30
imagini 30
conscienza 29
poiché 29
ansietà 28
entrai 27
tavolo 26
palpebre 26
attimo 24
attitudine 24
sentii 23

How does it begin?

MILANO—FRATELLI TREVES, EDITORI—MILANO Via Palermo, 2, e Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, 64 e 66. ROMA: Corso, 383.—NAPOLI; Via Roma (già Toledo), 34. BOLOGNA: presso la Libreria Treves, di L. Beltrami, angolo Via Farini. TRIESTE: presso Giuseppe Schubart. LIPSIA, VIENNA e BERLINO: presso A. F. Brockhaus. PARIGI: presso J. Boyveau et Chevillet, 22, rue de la Banque.

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 *L’Innocente* (77,999 words) at four reading speeds.
Words	100 wpm	150 wpm	200 wpm	250 wpm
77,999	13 h	8.5 h	6.5 h	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 #22642. 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.