Edmondo de Amicis - Early career, Later years

Writer, born in Oneglia, Liguria, NW Italy. He took part in the Battle of Custoza in 1855 and the taking of Rome in 1870. His first work was a collection of short stories on army life, La vita militare (1868), and after leaving the army began travelling and recounting his trips with much success, in Ricordi di Londra (1874) and Costantinopoli (1878). International acclaim came with the deeply moral Cuore (1886), which combined the diary of a schoolboy with patriotic short stories. His Poesie (1880), with their irony and unassuming tone, anticipated the crepuscolare movement. In 1891 he joined the Socialist Party and became interested in social issues.

Edmondo De Amicis (October 21, 1846—March 12, 1908), is a notable Italian novelist, journalist, and short-story writer.

Early career

Born in Oneglia (part of the city of Imperia), he went to military school in Modena, and became an officer in the new Italian Kingdom.

In Florence, he wrote his first sketches dealing with his frontline experience, collected as La vita militare ("Military Life", 1868), and first published by the journal of the Ministry of Defense, L'Italia Militare. In 1870, he joined the staff of the journal La Nazione in Rome, and his correspondence at the time later served as base for his travel writings: Spagna (1873), Olanda (1874), Ricordi di Londra (1874), Marocco (1876), Costantinopoli (1878), Ricordi di Parigi (1879).

Heart was issued by Treves on October 17, 1886, the first day of school in Italy.

Later years

The nationalist message visible in De Amicis' works was soon fused with a commitment to socialism (a trend visible within Heart).

His later works include: Sull'oceano (1889), dealing with the plight of Italian emigrants overseas, Il romanzo di un maestro (1890), Amore e ginnastica (1892), Maestrina degli operai (1895), La carrozza di tutti (1899), L'idioma gentile (1905), and Nuovi ritratti letterari e artistici (1908).

De Amicis died in Bordighera. he was marked by his mothers' death, and the frequent conflicts with his wife - ultimately, these were the source of an even greater emotional shock for De Amicis, as they led to his son Furio's suicide (as schoolchildren, Furio and his brother Ugo had served as inspiration for Heart).