--- title: Edmondo De Amicis slug: edmondo-de-amicis-36bc4 url: /detay/edmondo-de-amicis-36bc4 type: biography language: English entity: primary: Edmondo De Amicis type: biography categories: - name: Literature slug: edebiyat url: /kategori/edebiyat - name: History slug: tarih url: /kategori/tarih tags: - Children's Heart - Edmondo De Amicis - Italian literature - children's literature - Constantinople author: Nurten Yalçın created_at: 2025-11-29T14:22:51.547794+03:00 updated_at: 2025-11-29T14:22:51.547809+03:00 image: https://cdn.t3pedia.org/media/uploads/2025/09/18/wtreFJiieMtogHb9I91n5oz9G3NvI9oi.png --- # Edmondo De Amicis > Edmondo De Amicis (1846–1908) was an Italian writer and traveler of military background. He reached a wide readership through his works Il cuore (The Heart of a Child) and Constantinopoli (Istanbul). ## KURE Information Cards ### KURE Information Card: Edmondo De Amicis ![20250918_2208_Realistic Portrait Transformation_remix_01k5f3hd9kfrtbyafr1jpm4xr0.png](https://cdn.t3pedia.org/media/uploads/2025/09/18/D0elCE8POVgJYUqafDa6zhNo5yR8lbv2.png) *(Generated by Artificial Intelligence.)* | Field | Value | |-------|-------| | Birth | 21 October 1846, Oneglia (Italy) | | Death | 12 March 1908, Bordighera (Italy) | | Profession(s) | Writer,traveler,journalist | | Literary Genres | Travelogue, story, novel, children's literature, essay | ## Article Content [Edmondo De Amicis](/en/detay/edmondo-de-amicis-8881d/llms.txt) (1846–1908) was an Italian writer, journalist, and traveler. His literary output includes military memoirs, travelogues, works on children’s literature, and writings reflecting socialist thought. He is particularly known for his works *Il cuore* ([The Heart](/en/detay/the-heart-is-a-windmill-that-grinds-love-novel-f09/llms.txt)) and *Constantinopoli* (Constantinople). ### **Life** [De Amicis](/en/detay/de-amicis-edmondo/llms.txt) was born on 21 October 1846 in Oneglia. He completed his secondary education in Cuneo and Turin, then entered the Military Academy of Modena. In 1865 he became an artillery officer and served in the Battle of Custozza in 1866. He wrote articles for the journal *L’Italia militare* and became its publishing director in 1867. A selection of his writings from this period was published in 1868 under the title *La vita militare*. In 1871 he left military service to devote himself fully to literature. During the 1870s he traveled to Spain, the Netherlands, England, Morocco, Constantinople, and Paris, turning his impressions from these journeys into books. He arrived in Constantinople in 1874 and explored the city largely accompanied by the painter Junck. In the final years of his life he lived in Turin and Bordighera, dying in Bordighera on 12 March 1908. ### **Literary Activities** De Amicis’s earliest works consisted of military memoirs and short stories. Following *La vita militare*, he published *Ricordi di Roma* (1870), *Ricordi del 1870–1871*, and *Novelle* (1872). His travelogues include *La Spagna* (1872), *Ricordi di Londra* (1873), *Olanda* (1874), *Marocco* (1876), *Constantinopoli* (1878–1879), and *Ricordi di Parigi* (1879). From the 1880s onward he focused on children’s literature and school life. Works from this period include *Poesie* (1880), *Gli amici* (1883), *Il cuore* (1886), *Sull’oceano* (1889), *Il romanzo di un maestro* (1890), *Fra la scuola e casa* (1892), *La carrozza di tutti* (1899), and *Ricordi di infanzia e scuola* (1901). In his book *L’Idioma Gentile* he praised the Italian language, and in *Lotte civili* (1901) and *Le Cri du peuple* (1907) he expressed his socialist ideas. ### **Constantinopoli** De Amicis’s work of significance to [Turkish](/en/detay/personalities-on-the-turkish-lira-2025-b42b0/llms.txt) history is *Constantinopoli*. Based on his 1874 journey to Constantinople, the book was first published in two volumes in Milan in 1878–1879. It was quickly translated into French, English, German, and Greek. The work contains observations on the neighborhoods, streets, coffeehouses, bazaars, mosques, and daily life of the city. De Amicis did not establish direct contact with Turkish society; he gathered most of his information from the Italian colony in Constantinople. Nevertheless, thanks to his observations and the engravings by Cesare Biseo and Junck, the book became one of the most popular travelogues about Constantinople written in Europe. The first Turkish translation of the work was an abridged version prepared by Reşat Ekrem Koçu from the French text and published in 1936 in the newspaper *Cumhuriyet*. It was later published as a book in 1938 under the title *1874’de İstanbul*. The complete Turkish translation was made by Beynun Akyavaş in 1981 and published as *İstanbul: 1874*. ### **Il Cuore (The Heart)** De Amicis’s most famous work is *Il cuore*, published in 1886. Written in the form of a student’s diary, the book was quickly translated into more than thirty languages and reached a wide readership. It has been translated into Turkish under the titles *Mektep Âlemi* (1912), *Çocuk Kalbi* (1926, 1984), *Annesini Kurtaran Kahraman Çocuk* (1957), and *Vicdan, Bir Talebenin Hâtıra Defteri* (1960). ### **Final Years** From the 1890s onward, De Amicis became interested in socialist ideas and reflected them in his writings. He gained international recognition through his literary and travel works and was among the most widely read Italian authors of his time. He died in Bordighera on 12 March 1908. ## Academic Sources and References 4. Thayer, William Roscoe. “Edmondo de Amicis (1846-1908).” \*Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences\* 53, no. 10 (1918): 804-805. Accessed September 18, 2025. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25130017 5. Türkiye Turizm Ansiklopedisi. "De Amicis, Edmondo." Accessed September 18, 2025. https://turkiyeturizmansiklopedisi.com/de-amicis-edmondo 6. İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. "Amicis (Edmondo de)." Istanbul Ansiklopedisi, Volume 2, pp. 782-783. Accessed September 18, 2025. https://istanbulansiklopedisi.org/handle/rek/4198 7. Şakiroğlu, Mahmut H. “De Amicis, Edmondo.” \*İslâm Ansiklopedisi.\* 1994; TDV İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi. Accessed September 18, 2025. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/de-amicis-edmondo