Editing Emilio Salgari (section)

==Life==
[[File:IdaPeruzzi.jpg|thumb|Ida Peruzzi, wife of Salgari]]
Emilio Salgari was born in [[Verona]] to a family of modest merchants. From a young age, he had the desire to explore the seas and studied seamanship at a nautical technical institution in [[Venice]], but his academic performance was too poor, and he never graduated.

He began his writing career as a reporter for the daily ''La Nuova Arena,'' which published some of his work as serials.  As his powers of narration grew, so did his reputation for having lived a life of adventure. He claimed to have explored the [[Sudan]] desert, met [[Buffalo Bill]] in Nebraska (he had actually met him during his "Wild West Show" tour of Italy), and sailed the [[seven seas|Seven Seas]]. His early biographies were filled with adventurous tales set in the [[Far East]], events which he claimed were the basis for much of his work. Salgari had actually never ventured farther than the [[Adriatic Sea]].

He turned his passion for exploration and discovery to writing. His first stories were serialized in newspapers. Early in his career, he began signing his tales as "Captain Salgari", a title he once defended in a duel when his claim to it was questioned.

Though knighted by the Queen of Italy and wildly popular, Salgari did not earn much money from his books and lived hand to mouth for most of his life.

Salgari married Ida Peruzzi – nicknamed "[[Aida]]," with whom he was very happy for years.<ref name=troiano /> The couple had four children.  Salgari's private life was clouded by several tragedies. In 1889 his father committed [[suicide]].<ref name=troiano /> Ida became ill after 1903 and Salgari's struggling increased with her medical bills.

These events led Salgari to [[Depression (mood)|depression]], and he attempted suicide in 1910. After Ida was committed to a mental ward in 1911, Salgari was overwhelmed and took his own life soon afterwards, imitating the Japanese ritual of ''[[seppuku]]'', and died on 25 April 1911.<ref name=troiano>{{cite web |url=http://www.italica.rai.it/eng/principal/topics/bio/salgari.htm |author=Francesco Troiano |title=Biography of Emilio Salgari |publisher=Italica Rai |access-date=23 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609111653/http://www.italica.rai.it/eng/principal/topics/bio/salgari.htm |archive-date=9 June 2008 }}</ref> He left three letters, addressed to his and Ida's children, his publisher, and the editors of his newspaper in [[Turin]]. The letter to his publisher said:

{{cquote|To you that have grown rich from the sweat of my brow while keeping myself and my family in misery, I ask only that from those profits you find the funds to pay for my funeral. I salute you while I break my pen. Emilio Salgari.<ref name=troiano />}}

Two of the sons of Emilio and Aida also committed suicide, Romero in 1933<ref name="troiano" /> and Omar, a adventure writer himself, in 1963.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=24 July 2012 |date=6 November 1963 |periodical=La Stampa |title=Omar, figlio dello scrittore Salgari si è ucciso gettandosi dal balcone |url=http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,0002/articleid,0020_01_1963_0263_0002_24819483/}}<!-- auto-translated from Italian by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> His daughter Fatima died of tuberculosis in 1914, while his remaining son Nadir died in a motorcycle accident in 1936. His wife died in the mental ward in 1922.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=28 November 2020 |title=Quella maledizione sulla famiglia Salgari è tornata a colpire |url=http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1984/09/11/quella-maledizione-sulla-famiglia-salgari-tornata.html}}<!-- auto-translated from Italian by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>