author

Gino Bertolini

An early 20th-century Italian writer and journalist, he moved easily between travel writing, social observation, and literary history. His books range from vivid journeys through the Balkans to a large, image-rich study of Italy and a work on how Edmondo De Amicis’s Cuore came to be.

1 Audiobook

De Ziel van het Noorden

De Ziel van het Noorden

by Gino Bertolini

About the author

Gino Bertolini was an Italian writer, journalist, and trained lawyer who lived from 1873 to 1916. Sources describe him as active in literary life as well as local politics, and note that he earned a law degree in Padua before giving much of his energy to writing.

His work was notably varied. Library and archival sources connect him with travel books on Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Croatia, and northern Europe, while other records point to essays and studies on Italy, Venice, and literature. One of his best-known publications was Italia (1912), a very large illustrated work with hundreds of images, many reportedly taken by Bertolini himself.

He also wrote Come nacque il "Cuore" di Edmondo De Amicis, which links his name to one of Italy’s most beloved novels for young readers. Taken together, his books suggest a curious, wide-ranging author interested in places, people, and the cultural life of his time.