Edmondo De Amicis, author of the beloved Cuore, was one of the most gifted Italian travel writers of the nineteenth century, and Holland ranks among his finest achievements. He explores Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, and the polderlands with an enchanted eye, describing windmills, canals, tulip fields, Rembrandt’s Amsterdam, and the phlegmatic yet profoundly cultured Dutch character with warmth and wit.
The book captures the Netherlands at a specific historical moment — a prosperous, settled society shaped by centuries of maritime trade and Calvinist discipline — and reads today as both delightful travel literature and a valuable historical document.