Guglielmo Ferrero
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) and The Gamble: Bonaparte in Italy, 1796-1797. Ferrero devoted his writings to classical liberalism, and he opposed any kind of dictatorship and unlimited government.
Guglielmo Ferrero

Bain News Service, publisher · This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ggbain.01203. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attache · Public domain
- Born
- 21 July 1871
- Occupation
- * Historian
- Died
- 1942. · Mont Pèlerin.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Italy.
- Fields
- humanities and ancient history.
- Education
- University of Pisa, University of Bologna and University of Turin.
- Honours
- honorary doctorate from the University of Strasbourg.
- Languages
- Italian and French.
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Documentary summary
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) and The Gamble: Bonaparte in Italy, 1796-1797. Ferrero devoted his writings to classical liberalism, and he opposed any kind of dictatorship and unlimited government.
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Note VALÉORINE
Guglielmo Ferrero (1871–1942) was an Italian writer, classical scholar and historian. The writer was born in Portici and died in Mont Pèlerin.
Guglielmo Ferrero was educated at University of Bologna, University of Pisa and University of Turin. Guglielmo Ferrero worked for Graduate Institute of International Studies and University of Geneva. Activity centred on ancient history and humanities.
Works are held at Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Awards and honours include honorary doctorate from the University of Strasbourg.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 03 October 2026
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wikidata · Q689713 · wikipedia · Guglielmo Ferrero
In this article
Biography
Biography
Guglielmo Ferrero studied at University of Pisa, University of Bologna and University of Turin. The recorded working language is Italian and French. The field of work recorded is humanities and ancient history. Employment is recorded with University of Geneva and Graduate Institute of International Studies. Work by Guglielmo Ferrero is recorded in the collections of Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Distinctions recorded are honorary doctorate from the University of Strasbourg.

The graves of Italian physician and writer Gina Ferrero-Lombroso (1872-1944), on the right, of her husband, Italian historian and writer Guglielmo Ferrero (1871-1942), on the left, and of their son, writer and playwright Leo Ferrero (1903-1933), centre, at the Cimetière des Rois in Geneva, Switzerland.
RomanDeckert

The grave of the Italian historian and writer Guglielmo Ferrero (1871-1942) at the Cimetière des Rois in Geneva, Switzerland.
RomanDeckert
Key facts
Key facts
• Born — 21 July 1871 • Occupation — * Historian • Journalist • Novelist
Biography
Biography
Born in Portici, near Naples, Ferrero studied law in Pisa, Bologna and Turin. Soon afterwards he married Gina Lombroso, a daughter of Cesare Lombroso, the criminologist and psychiatrist with whom he wrote The Female Offender, The Prostitute and The Normal Woman. In 1891-1894 Ferrero travelled extensively in Europe and in 1897 wrote The Young Europe, a book which had a strong influence over James Joyce. While studying the history of Rome Ferrero contributed to the literary magazine La Ronda based in Rome. Then he 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 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 at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. 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 and Napoleon. In 1935, his daughter Nina Ferrero married the Yugoslavian diplomat Bogdan Raditsa. Ferrero was invited to the White House in 1908 by Theodore Roosevelt, 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.
In Italian
In Italian
• Roma Antica, 3 vols., Firenze: Le Monnier, 1921–22, with Corrado Barbagallo.
In English translation
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
In French translation
• Les lois psychologiques du symbolisme, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1895. Published under the name of "Guillaume Ferrero".
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1871
Guglielmo Ferrero born at Portici.
1942
Guglielmo Ferrero died at Mont Pèlerin.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Portici.
Birth place
Mont Pèlerin.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Chapter 2. Guglielmo Ferrero: The Mystification of Capitalism, Italian Critics of Capitalism, 2010
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2010
- Ferrero, Guglielmo, Brill’s New Pauly Supplements I - Volume 6 : History of classical Scholarship - A Biographical Dictionary
Scholarly · Crossref registry
reference work
- “Guglielmo Ferrero”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q689713: Guglielmo Ferrero
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.They had a son, Leo Ferrero (1903-1933), who was a playwright.
- 2.Humphreys, Susan L. (1979). "James Joyce's Debt to Guglielmo Ferrero," James Joyce Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 239–251.
- 3.Pappalardo, Salvatore (2011). "Waking Europe: Joyce, Ferrero and the Metamorphosis of Irish History" , Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 154–177.
- 4.Simone Germini. Riviste letterarie del Novecento – La Ronda. iMalpensanti. 31 May 2013.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Cook, Thomas I. (1952). "Guglielmo Ferrero (1871-1942) and the Bi-Polar World," The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 20–30.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Chapter 2. Guglielmo Ferrero: The Mystification of Capitalism, Italian Critics of Capitalism, 2010Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Ferrero, Guglielmo, Brill’s New Pauly Supplements I - Volume 6 : History of classical Scholarship - A Biographical DictionaryCrossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
His recorded languages were Italian and French. He married Gina Lombroso. One child is recorded: Leo Ferrero. Other recorded relations include Bogdan Raditsa. Ferrero worked in humanities and ancient history. He was employed by University of Geneva and Graduate Institute of International Studies. Ferrero received honorary doctorate from the University of Strasbourg. Recorded as historian, writer, journalist, university teacher and classical scholar.
Identity and origins
Career and activity
Recognition and collections
Work by Guglielmo Ferrero is
Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
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