Ricerc@Sapienza

The article takes inspiration from a new edition of Ferrero’s book Grandezza e decadenza di
Roma and analyzes this work which was very criticized at the beginning of the 20th century, when
the first edition was published. The article investigates how Ferrero’s book was connected with
the new Italian and international historiographical climate, both in terms of methodology and in its
interpretations of history. In his book, Ferrero traced an original picture of antiquity, in which on
the one hand he highlighted the crisis of positivism, on the other he confirmed the leading role of
Roman provinces. In this picture, Augustus’ politics was interpreted in opposition to Caesar’s.
Furthermore, the article underlines how, following new methodological trends and looking through
the prism of ancient Roman history, Ferrero meant to warn both the Europeans and the Italians
about the dangers of mass politics and the rise of personal power