Edmondo De Amicis
1846–1908
Biography
Edmondo De Amicis was born in 1846 in Oneglia, a town on the Ligurian coast, in the years before Italy became a single kingdom. In his late teens and early twenties he trained for and served in the army, and the sketches of military life he published in 1868 grew out of that time. He then made his living by writing, first as a journalist and then as a travel writer. His travel books took him through Spain and Morocco, across the Netherlands and on to Constantinople, and they gave Italian readers a view of places most of them would never see for themselves.
He wrote novels, poems and a great many short stories, but he is remembered above all for Cuore, published in 1886 and known in English as Heart. It follows a boy in a Turin primary school over one school year, told through his diary. Between the diary entries the teacher reads the class a monthly tale, each about courage, sacrifice or kindness, and these tales are as much a part of the book as the diary. It was a runaway success in Italy, was translated into many languages, and for generations it was a standard school book. Its sentiment and its patriotism seem heavy to many modern readers, who also look critically at its treatment of class, but it remains one of the best-known Italian books in the world.
Two of his books are on this site. Novelle collects his short stories, and La Carrozza di tutti is another of his shorter works. Both show the qualities that made him popular: clear, warm writing, a steady moral sense, and close attention to ordinary people in the towns and streets of Italy. Readers who know him only through Heart will find here the same writer working at other lengths and on other subjects.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
La Carrozza di tutti
by Edmondo De Amicis
On New Year's Day 1896 the narrator boards a horse tram in Turin and resolves to spend the year riding the city's public carriages. Month by month he watches passengers of every class, guessing at their lives and recording their quarrels and kindnesses, in a warm portrait of an…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.Novelle
by Edmondo De Amicis
Seven long stories by the author of Cuore, among them Gli amici di collegio, Camilla, Furio and La casa paterna. De Amicis writes about school friendships, first love, family ties and homecoming with his familiar tenderness. This book contains scenes of violence as its author…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.