DE MARCHI, EMILIO. — Novelist, born in Milan on 31 July 1851, died there on 6 February 1901. He was secretary of the Scientific-Literary Academy of his city, a municipal councillor belonging to the moderate party, and a member of the council of orphanages and charitable institutions.
Turning to journalism (he was among the founders of Vita nuova), he created the Italian serial novel. To oppose extremist propaganda, after 1898 he published La buona parola, a series of popular reading material. In his novels (Il cappello del prete [1888]; Demetrio Pianelli [1890]; Arabella [1892]; Giacomo l'ideolista [1897]; Col fuoco non si scherza [1901]), while working within the tradition of Manzoni, he heeded the influences of French and Fogazzarian verismo and revealed himself as a graceful and precise narrator. L'Età preziosa (1887), a collection of admonitions to young people between fourteen and twenty years of age, constitutes one of the most agile and effective manuals of education. He also wrote short stories and a comedy, and translated La Fontaine’s fables into verse. His Catholic vision did not attain Manzonian serenity: “a wise counsellor when he spoke as an educator, his artistic books conclude in torment and desperate anguish. His intuition of life, as reflected in his art, was painful” (B. Croce).