Emma Perodi (31 January 1850 – 5 March 1918) was an Italian writer and journalist, best known for her

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

Biography

For many years, it was uncertain if she had been born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. ...

but, in the 1980s, a baptismal certificate was found that placed her birth in

Cerreto Guidi Cerreto Guidi is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about west of Florence. Cerreto Guidi borders the following municipalities: Empoli, Fucecchio, Lamporecchio, Larciano, San M ...

.G. Micheli at al., in :''Emma Perodi. Saggi critici e bibliografia (1850-2005)'', Pontedera 2006, pp. 17-19 Her father, Federigo, was an engineer, and her mother, Adelaide Morelli Adimari had noble origins. She received an expensive education and was allowed the freedom to travel throughout much of Italy and Europe. Her literary growth, however, took place mainly in Florence. From 1881, she was a collaborator and then, from 1887, director of the ''Children's Journal'' (

Giornale per i bambini was an Italian weekly periodical published in the 1880s by Tipografia dei Fratelli Bencini and later Tipografia Bodoniana. It first appeared as an insert in ''Fanfulla della domenica'' in 1881, and established as an independent publication later ...

), which was published in Rome.

Ferdinando Martini Ferdinando Martini (30 July 1840 – 24 April 1928) was an Italian writer and politician. He was governor of Eritrea for from late 1897 to early 1907. Biography Born in Florence, he worked as journalist and writer. He collaborated with '' Il F ...

was its founder and first director. Her best known work is ''Grandma's Stories'' (), a collection of fantastic stories set in

Casentino The Casentino is the valley in which the first tract of the river Arno flows to Subbiano, Italy. It is one of the four valleys (alongside Valdarno, Valdichiana, and Valtiberina) in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from w ...

, published in installments between 1892 and 1893. Although designed for children, some of the stories contain

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

elements that can be appreciated by adults. She also did translations; notably the first Italian edition of ''

Elective Affinities ''Elective Affinities'' (German: ''Die Wahlverwandtschaften''), also translated under the title ''Kindred by Choice'', is the third novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1809. Situated around the city of Weimar, the book relates the ...

'' by

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

; in collaboration with . A collection of her stories was published in English under the title ''Tuscan Tales: The Fantastic Fables of Emma Perodi'', trans. Lori Hetherington (2020), . She died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, where she had spent over twenty years working for the publishing firm of Salvatore Biondo. In July, 2018, a park in Casentino was dedicated to her.

References

External links

Biographies
@

Treccani Institute Giovanni Treccani for the publication of the Italian Encyclopedia (), also known as Treccani Institute or simply Treccani, is a cultural institution of national interest, active in the publishing field, founded by Giovanni Treccani ...

Works by Perodi
@ the Open Library
''Il Principe della Marsiliana''
@

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

''Il Medioevo contraffatto di Emma Perodi. L'ombra del Sire di Narbona''
by Francesca Roversi Monaco, @ Storicamente {{DEFAULTSORT:Perodi, Emma 1850 births 1918 deaths Grand Duchy of Tuscany people Italian children's writers Italian women children's writers Writers from Florence 19th-century Italian women writers 20th-century Italian women writers Italian translators 19th-century translators 20th-century Italian translators

Biography

References

Further reading

External links