author
Janet Ross
1842–1927
A vivid observer of Italian life, she turned travel, history, and everyday cooking into books that still feel warm and companionable. Her writing draws on a life spent moving through remarkable places and circles, from Victorian London to Tuscany.
3 Audiobooks
Florentine palaces & their stories
by Janet Ross
Florentine villas
by Janet Ross
About the author
Born Janet Ann Duff Gordon in London in 1842, she was the daughter of the writer and translator Lucie Duff Gordon. She grew up in an unusually literary family and later married Henry Ross, a diplomat, before making her home in Italy, where much of her writing life took shape.
Ross became known as a historian, biographer, memoirist, and travel writer with a special gift for bringing places to life. She wrote about Florence and Tuscany, produced historical works and family memoirs, and is especially remembered by many readers for Leaves from Our Tuscan Kitchen, a classic cookbook rooted in the food and domestic life she knew firsthand.
Her books often blend curiosity, practicality, and a strong sense of place, which helps explain why they still attract readers today. She died in 1927, leaving behind a body of work that offers both a lively portrait of Italy and a window into the wider cultural world she inhabited.