Heart

The chatter of children on the first school day and up to the last, the mixing of this noise with parents' anxieties, sometimes a poor father, sometimes a sick one, sometimes a mother whose sacrifices are read in the wrinkles, white hair and eyes; quarrels and unbreakable friendships, snowballs, impossible children and a society's sensitivity to the problems of one city, one state and, finally, all of us together. Written 130 years ago, in 1886, by one of the best-known and most classic Italian writers, Edmondo De Amicis, the novel "Heart" remains one of those books read with pleasure, compassion and a sense of responsibility for reflecting on a world where perfection of the good is sought. Unforgettable characters, such as the little Florentine writer Enrico, the brave Garoni, Marco searching for his mother from the Apennines to the Andes, Ciccilli with the Father's Doctor, and Feruccio with his paralyzed grandmother, will revive in the memory of today's parents' childhood, just as they appear for the first time to today's young readers.