Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore: reading level, length and free edition

Name: Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore
Author: Luigi Pirandello

Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore by Luigi Pirandello is a play in Italian. Our team rates it B2. It runs to 19,011 words with 3,378 different word forms, about 1.5–3 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.

Cover of Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore

Author: Luigi Pirandello
Language: Italian
Level: B2
Form: play
Words: 19,011
Different word forms: 3,378
Forms for 95% / 98%: 2,428 / 2,998
Reading time: 1.5–3 h
Free edition: Project Gutenberg

Sei personaggi irrompono su un palcoscenico e chiedono che la loro tragedia venga rappresentata.

Is Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore right for your level?

To recognise 95% of the running words in Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore, you need its 2,428 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 2,998. The median Italian B2 book in our table needs 5,871 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is easier than most for its level: number 1 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 Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore 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.

indicherà 55
attrice 52
palcoscenico 52
attore 51
scusi 22
dramma 17
commedia 15
attor 14
macchinista 13
vedrà 13
vasca 13
sipario 12
veda 12
copione 11
facendosi 11

How does it begin?

N.B. La commedia non ha atti né scene. La rappresentazione sarà interrotta una prima volta, senza che il sipario s’abbassi; allorché il Direttore Capocomico e il capo dei personaggi si ritireranno per concertar lo scenario e gli attori sgombreranno il palcoscenico; una seconda volta, allorché per isbaglio il Macchinista butterà giù il sipario.

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 *Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore* (19,011 words) at four reading speeds.
Words	100 wpm	150 wpm	200 wpm	250 wpm
19,011	3 h	2 h	1.5 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 #18457. 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.