All’ombra dei grandi libri: la selva Andes di Pietro Marso

"Andes Virgilii natale solum", a silva by the Italian humanist Petrus Marsus, was published in
Mantua in 1480. The present paper investigates the role of that text as a turning point from
Statius’ concept of the silva to the silvae by Politian; it also shows that the silvae were intended
by Politian as an introduction to classical texts, exactly in the way of the first printed editions of
classical texts, where these texts were accompanied by other poetic compositions, conceived as
an introduction to the classical author.