Ferrero devoted his writings to classical liberalism and he opposed any kind of dictatorship and unlimited government.

Born in Portici, near Naples, Ferrero studied law in Pisa, Bologna and Turin.

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

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.