Guglielmo Ferrero (; 21 July 1871 — 3 August 1942) was an Italian historian, journalist and novelist, author of the ''Greatness and Decline of Rome'' (5 volumes, published after English translation 1907–1909). Ferrero devoted his writings to classical liberalism and he opposed any kind of dictatorship and unlimited government. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

twenty times in six years.

Biography

Born in

Portici Portici (; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy. It is the site of the Portici Royal Palace. Geography Portici lies at the foot of Mount Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples, about southeast of Naples itself. There i ...

, near

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's admin ...

, Ferrero studied law in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the c ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

. Soon afterward he married Gina Lombroso, a daughter of

Cesare Lombroso Cesare Lombroso (, also ; ; born Ezechia Marco Lombroso; 6 November 1835 – 19 October 1909) was an Italian criminologist, phrenologist, physician, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the establis ...

, the criminologist and psychiatrist with whom he wrot
''The Female Offender''
''The Prostitute'' and ''The Normal Woman''. In 1891-1894 Ferrero traveled extensively in Europe and in 1897 wrote ''The Young Europe'', a book which had a strong influence over

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

.Pappalardo, Salvatore (2011)
"Waking Europe: Joyce, Ferrero and the Metamorphosis of Irish History"
, ''Journal of Modern Literature'', Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 154–177. After studying the history of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Ferrero turned to political essays and novels (''Between Two Worlds'' in 1913, ''Speeches to the Deaf'' in 1925 and ''The Two Truths'' in 1933-1939). When the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and t ...

reign of Black Shirts forced liberal intellectuals to leave Italy in 1925, Ferrero refused and was placed under house arrest. In 1929 Ferrero accepted a

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

at the

Graduate Institute of International Studies Graduate may refer to: Education * The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree ** Alumnus, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution * High school graduate, someone who has completed hi ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. His last works (''Adventure'', ''Bonaparte in Italy'', ''The Reconstruction of Europe'', ''The Principles of Power'' and ''The Two French Revolutions'') were dedicated to the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

and

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

. In 1935 his daughter Nina Ferrero married the

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

n diplomat Bogdan Raditsa. Ferrero was invited to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 180 ...

in 1908 by

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

, who had read ''The Greatness and Decline of Rome''. He gave lectures in the northeast of the USA which were collected and published in 1909 as ''Characters and Events of Roman History''. He died in 1942 at the Mont Pèlerin,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Works

In Italian

* ''Roma Antica'', 3 vols., Firenze: Le Monnier, 1921–22, with Corrado Barbagallo

In English translation

''Militarism''
a contribution to the Peace Crusade (1903). * ''The Greatness and Decline of Rome translated in five volumes'' by Sir Alfred Zimmern (Volumes 1 and 2) and the Reverend H J Chaytor (Volumes 3 to 5) *
''Volume 1: The Empire-Builders''
(1907). *
''Volume 2: Julius Caesar''
(1907). *
''Volume 3: The Fall of an Aristocracy''
(1907). *
''Volume 4: Rome and Egypt''
(1908). *
''Volume 5: The Republic of Augustus''
(1909).
''Characters and Events of Roman History from Caesar to Nero''
(1909).
''The Women of the Caesars''
(1911).
''Between the Old World and the New''
a novel (1914).
''Ancient Rome and Modern America''
a comparative study of morals and manners (1914). * ''A Short History of Rome'' (with Corrado Barbagallo) translated in two volumes by George Chrystal (1918). *
''Volume 1: 754 BC to 44 BC''
*
''Volume 2: 44 BC to 476 AD''

''Europe's Fateful Hour''
(1918).
''Problems of Peace, from the Holy Alliance to the League of Nations''
a message from a European writer to Americans (1919).
''The Ruin of the Ancient Civilization and the Triumph of Christianity''
with some consideration of conditions in the Europe of today (1921).
''Peace and War''
(1933).
''The Reconstruction of Europe: Talleyrand and the Congress of Vienna 1814-1845''
(1941). Selected articles
"Puritanism,"
''The Atlantic Monthly,'' Vol. CVI, 1910.
"American Characteristics,"
''The Atlantic Monthly,'' Vol. CVI, 1910.
"The Dangers of War in Europe,"
''The Atlantic Monthly'', Vol. CXI, 1913.

In French translation

* ''Les lois psychologiques du symbolisme'', Paris, Félix Alcan, 1895. Published under the name of "Guillaume Ferrero".

References

External links

* *
Works by Guglielmo Ferrero
at

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

Free e-books by Ferrero
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrero, Guglielmo 1871 births 1942 deaths 20th-century Italian historians Italian classical scholars Scholars of Roman history Historians of fascism Italian journalists Italian male journalists Italian essayists Male essayists Italian male writers Italian anti-fascists People from Portici Italian expatriates in Switzerland Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies faculty Italian male non-fiction writers