Gabriele d'Annunzio's novel *The Innocent* (1892) is a singular example of Italian Decadence, incorporating elements of the psychological novel, the detective story, and the philosophical novel. D'Annunzio fuses the aestheticism of Oscar Wilde, the eroticism of the French Parnassians, and the psychological realism characteristic of the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. The protagonist is Tullio Hermil—a dandy and aesthete typical of the late 19th century—endowed with the cruelty, cynicism, and disdain for moral norms characteristic of the Nietzschean *Übermensch*. Yet, within this ruthless, capricious hedonist who rejects the constraints of morality, feelings of compassion and guilt emerge, inevitably leading to an existential crisis and atonement.
