Guglielmo Ferrero

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Guglielmo Ferrero

Guglielmo Ferrero ( pronunciation : [ ɡuʎʎɛlmo ferrɛːro ] born, 21st July 1871 in Portici , Italy ; died 3. August 1942 at Mont-Pélerin, community Chardonne VD , Switzerland ) was an Italian historian , sociologist , journalist and novel writer . He was the author of Grandezza e decadenza di Roma (5 vols. 1902–1907; German under the title Size and decline of Rome in 6 volumes). Ferrero committed himself to liberalism in his writings .

Live and act

Guglielmo Ferrero studied law in Pisa , Bologna and Turin . In 1903 he married Gina Lombroso , a daughter of Cesare Lombroso , the founder of criminology, with whom he wrote La donna delinquente, la prostituta e la donna normal ( The criminal, the prostitute and the normal woman ). Ferrero traveled extensively in Europe from 1891 to 1894, and in 1897 wrote The Young Europe . After studying the history of Rome , Ferrero turned to the political essay and novels ( Between Two Worlds 1913, Speeches to the Doves 1925 and The Two Truths 1933–1939) and coined the term " political class ". In 1908 he was invited to the White House by Theodore Roosevelt . He gave lectures in the northeastern United States that were collected and published in 1909 under the title Characters and Events of Roman History .

When the Black Shirts fascist rule forced liberal intellectuals to leave Italy in 1925, Ferrero refused and was placed under house arrest.

“The regime imposed strict surveillance and a travel ban on him; nevertheless Mussolini let him, also thanks to an intervention of Albert Thomas, the director of the boarding school. Employment office in Geneva , issue a passport in October 1929. Ferrero established himself in Geneva, where he became professor of contemporary history at the university in 1930 and also taught at the Institut de hautes études internationales. His house on rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville became a meeting point for intellectuals of Italian anti-fascism . His wife Gina was the initiator of the Nuove edizioni di Capolago together with Ignazio Silone and Egidio Reale in 1936. "

He dedicated his last works ( Adventure , The Reconstruction of Europe , Power and The Two French Revolutions ) to the French Revolution and Napoleon . At the “First International Writers' Congress in Defense of Culture” in Paris in 1935, a message of greeting was read by the conference leader.

Guglielmo Ferrero died in 1942 on Mont-Pélerin (municipality of Chardonne VD) in Switzerland.

Works (selection)

  • Greatness and decline of Rome. Hoffmann, Stuttgart 1908-1910.
    • Vol. 1: How Rome became a world empire.
    • Vol. 2: Julius Caesar.
    • Vol. 3: The end of the old Free State.
    • Vol. 4: Antony and Cleopatra.
    • Vol. 5: The new Free State of Augustus.
    • Vol. 6: The world empire under Augustus.

Awards and honors

Web links

Wikisource: Guglielmo Ferrero  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mauro Cerutti: Guglielmo Ferrero. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ^ Paris 1935: Speeches and Documents. With materials from the London Writers' Conference in 1936. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1982, pp. 117f.
  3. ↑ Base de données des élites suisses au XXe s .: Ferrero, Guglielmo (1871–1942). Université de Lausanne, accessed on December 15, 2019 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Ferrero, Guglielmo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian historian, sociologist, journalist and novelist
DATE OF BIRTH July 21, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Portici
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1942
Place of death Mont Pèlerin