Lyric poetry of Archaic and Classical age, with particular
reference to Alcman, Stesichorus, Melanippides, Timotheus of
Miletus. Greek metrics and rhythmics and history of the ancient
metrical theories. Ancient Greek music: kinds of performance of the
melic poems; documents with musical scores; philosophical
discussion about music (Damon, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes of
Babylonia, Philodemus).Ancient exegesis on Aeschyus, with a focus
on the scholia to his tragedies. Clement of Alexandria.
Archaic and classical Greek melic poetry constitutes one of my main fields of investigation. I edited an annotated edition of the ancient testimonies of Stesichorus (2013) an annotated edition of the testimonies and fragments of the dithyrambograph Melanippides of Melo (2021). I have also dealt with Arion, Alcmane (Louvre Partheneion), Bacchylides, Pindar and Timotheus (Persae) in various contributions in journals or micellan works. Lately, I have been dealing with quotations from Greek lyricists in Clement of Alexandria and the way this Church Father reinterprets the poets' verses in a Christian key.
A second field of research is strongly linked with the previous
one: that of Greek meter, addressed as much as possible with
attention to the musical nature of Greek melic poetry and to Greek
theories of musical rhythm (see the item “Ancient Metrics -
Μέτρον” of the Greek metrical and rhythmical theories recently
appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and
Linguistics).
Ancient Greek music: investigation of forms of musical performance related to the music for kithara (kitharodic tradition) and
to that for aulos (synaulia; aulodic nomoi);
examination of documents with music score; reflection on the ancient music (esp. Damon,
Plato, Diogenes of Babylon, Philodemus).
Ancient exegesis of Aeschylus was the privileged subject of investigation of the local unit I coordinated within the framework of the national FIRB 2012 project (Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Aeschylus: forms and transmission of ancient exegesis). I am currently working on the edition of the scholia to the Aeschylus' Persae, as part of the new edition of the poet sponsored by the "Accademia dei Lincei".
