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A Short History of The Villa Ulivello
Upon entering the grounds at Ulivello one walks into the past. During the 1920's the house played an important role in Italy’s political and intellectual history.
The present owner's grandparents were Guglielmo Ferrero, a man of letters and a political figure, and his wife Gina Lombroso, a medical doctor. Gina was the daughter of the famous criminologist, Cesare Lombroso. She and Guglielmo both began their careers collaborating with Lombroso. Ferrero co-authored "La Donna Delinquente,"1893 ("The Female Offender.") Gina devoted her later life to women's issues. Her most famous book is "The Soul of Woman" translated into twenty-six languages. (1920.) Ferrero's best known book is "The Greatness and Decline of Rome" (5 vols 1902-07.)
Both Guglielmo and Gina were outspoken anti-fascists. They purchased the property in 1917 and Ulivello soon became a meeting place for Italian and European intellectuals. By 1928 the Ferrero's were under house arrest, and thirty-six policemen surrounded the villa and garden day and night. In 1930 Ferrero was offered a professorship at the University of Geneva, and with difficulty, he and his wife left Italy.
After the war the Ferrero’s daughter Nina returned to Ulivello. In the 1940's she and her husband Bogdan Raditsa a Yugoslave diplomat and journalist emigrated with their children to the United States. In the 1960's they ran a summer program at Ulivello for American college students. The students were introduced to the ideas of the Italian Renaissance and the complexites of contemporary Italian politics that was fast changing the face the country. |
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