Acknowledgments

1We would like to thank some friends with whom we have shared a passion for philology, who discussed with us the topics covered in this book over many years and who helped us with suggestions: Simone Albonico, Paolo Bongrani, Stefano Carrai, Ferruccio Cecco, Andrea Comboni, Roberto Leporatti, Maria Maddalena Lombardi, Massimo Malinverni, Donatella Martinelli, Luca Milite, Giorgio Panizza, Giorgio Pinotti, Rossano Pestarino, Claudio Vela and our students of the Italian Philology courses in Parma and Siena, who were its first, attentive readers.

2We are grateful to Carolina Rossi (Preface, Introduction, Chapter 1), Luca Mazzocchi (Chapter 2), Francesco Feriozzi (Chapter 3) and Katherine Kirby (Chapters 4.1, 4.2, 4.4) for having produced the English translations for these respective sections of the book, and we would particularly like to thank Simon Gilson for having further revised it.

3We dedicate this volume to the memory of Franco Gavazzeni (1935– 2008) and Dante Isella (1922–2007).

4November 2020