Research

My research interests involve the literary and textual aspects of the works of Cicero, Vergil, Fronto, Apuleius, Petronius, Hyginus, Frontinus, Firmicus Maternus, pseudo-Quintilian's Major Declamations, Seneca (Apocolocyntosis and Quaestiones Naturales) for Latin, Lucian of Samosata and Plutarch for Greek, as well as broader themes such as the ancient novel, Platonism, and Greco-Roman magic. I am one of the main contributors to the forthcomings Oxford Guide to the Transmission of the Latin Classics, edited by Justin Stover.

My first book, Magic in Apuleius’ Apologia. Understanding the charges and the forensic strategies in Apuleius’ speech, was published in 2019 by De Gruyter. My second monograph, a commentary on Apuleius’ Metamorphoses 3 for the Brill series Groningen Commentaries on Apuleius (GCA) was published in September 2021. My third book, a volume edited with Ben Cartlidge and entitled Middle Platonism in its Literary Context, came out with Oxford University Press for the BICS Themed Issues series in 2023. I am currently working on Cicero's Pro Archia, with the aim to produce a new critical edition and a scholarly commentary.

On 11-12 May 2025, I organised and run with Stefan Tilg the international conference ‘Cicero: Orator et Poeta – Cicero’s Use of and reflection on Poetry’, which will take place at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. The conference was streamed online and was generously funded by the Fritz-Thyssen Stiftung. The programme is available here.

I also organised a conference entitled ‘The Politics of Archaism in the Imperial Period’ (Bristol, 01/07/2022), sponsored by the IGRCT, the University of Bristol, the Classical Association, and the Institute of Classical Studies. More information about the conference's aims and its programme is available here.

Furthermore, I am leading the project Fragmenta Iguvina, which aims at the publication of the unidentified manuscript fragments at the Biblioteca Comunale Sperelliana (Gubbio). More information about the project is available here.

Finally, I am also currently collaborating with Dr Mary Stuart (University of Derby), who designed a new, portable hyper-spectral imaging device, produced by PyrOptik and called ChromaMapper. This device will revolutionise the digital humanities applied to manuscript studies. We are testing the device on manuscripts to produce low-cost, non-invasive, and almost instantaneous hyper-spectral digitisations under natural light. You can find out about our first test here.

Teaching and Supervision

Starting from September 2025 I will be teaching the following undergraduate units:

- Latin A1 and A2 (terms 1&2)

- Latin B2 (term 2)

- Trojan War in Ancient Literature (term 1)

I am also collaborating with the Centre for Medieval Studies and I am the Director of the MA in Medieval Studies, and the Director of the new Medieval Studies Summer School, which I designed and created.

I was nominated for the Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award, Outstanding Research Supervision Award, Empowering Student Academic Voices Award, and Outstanding Personal Tutoring Award in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 and was shortlisted in 2022 (for more information, see here).

I am currently supervising a PhD student, Laura Rogari, with Prof. Simona Inserra (Università degli Studi di Catania). Laura's project is devoted to the digitisation and study of the manuscript fragments found in Gubbio, Italy.

Biography

I started learning Ancient Greek and Latin at the Liceo Classico – Mazzatinti in Gubbio, my hometown in Umbria, and I continued studying classics at the University of Perugia for my BA (2011) and MA (2012/2013). I then took a PhD at the University of Leeds (2013-2016) with a dissertation devoted to Apuleius’ Apologia and ancient magic. After completing my doctorate I remained at Leeds as a Temporary Lecturer in 2017 before moving to Freiburg in summer 2017 for a DAAD short-term postdoc focusing on the reception of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses.

Between 2017 and 2018 I held a number of teaching and research posts at Leeds, Cassino, Bologna, and Bari before rejoining the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg as a Fritz-Thyssen Research Fellow and a lecturer during the last two years (2018-2020). I was delighted to join the Department of Classics & Ancient History at the University of Bristol in November 2020, where I am now a Senior Lecturer in Classics.

Current administrative roles and HEA qualifications

Here at Bristol I also hold the roles as Humanities Summer School Coordinator, Humanities Employability Officer, and Director of the MA Medieval Studies and Director of the Medieval Studies Summer School in collaboration with the Centre for Medieval Studies, serving as a member of its Executive Committee. Finally, I sit on the EDI Committee of the School of Humanities.

In May 2022 I was appointed Fellow of the HEA and in May 2025 I became Senior Fellow of the HEA.

Finally, I am a member of the CUCD Standing Committee and have the pleasure to serve as the CUCD Statistics Officer, producing every year an open-access report that can be downloaded from the website of the CUCD Bulletin.