Ricerc@Sapienza

My main field of research regards Latin philosophical prose writings, especially those by Cicero (several essays on speeches and Tusculan Disputations) and Seneca (several essays and three monographs on Natural Questions, De constantia sapientis, and Moral Epistles). I am interested in  rhetorical strategies, such as metaphors, poetic quotations, historical examples, when used to reach parenetic aims, and also in the analysis of passions and vices, such as luxuria (I am currently writing a book on the cultural history of this concept). As for poetry, besides Senecan tragedies, I have dealt with some philosophical issues in Ovid.