Sergio Casali
Visiting Professor
Biography
Sergio Casali is Professor of Latin Language and Literature at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He regularly teaches Latin philology, Latin literature, and Latin linguistics at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
He is the author of a commentary on Ovid’s Heroides 9 (Florence: Le Monnier, 1995), a commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid 2 (Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2017; 2nd ed. 2019), and a guide to the Aeneid (Rome: Carocci, 2023). He has published about 85 articles and book chapters, as well as approximately 30 reviews. He has also co-edited, with Fabio Stok, a volume on Servius (Brussels: Collection Latomus, 2008), and edited a volume on the tradition of commentaries on Virgil from the early modern period to the present (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2026).
He is currently working on a commentary on Book IV of the Aeneid for Cambridge University Press’s “orange” series. His future projects include a critical edition of Ovid’s Heroides for the Oxford Classical Texts series, accompanied by a volume of textual and critical commentary, and a monograph on self-reflexivity in the Aeneid.
For his work on Virgil, and especially for his commentary on Book II of the Aeneid, he received the 2019 Alexander G. McKay Prize for Vergilian Studies from the Vergilian Society and the 2021 International Vergilius Prize from the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana in Mantua. He is currently President-Elect of the Vergilian Society (2026–2029; President, 2029–2031), and Co-Chair of the International Ovidian Society (2026–2027; Chair, 2027–2028).
Research Interests
Frequently Teaches
Virgil’s Aeneid; Naevius’ Bellum Poenicum; Ennius’ Annales;Ovid’s Heroides; Ovid’s Metamorphoses; Propertius; Horace’s Odes and Epodes; textual criticism and editorial technique; the historical phonetics and morphology of Latin.
Research Interests
Virgil’s Aeneid; the Latin epic tradition from Naevius and Ennius to the Flavian poets; the ancient and modern exegetical tradition of the Aeneid; Ovid; and the reception of classical literature in Dante.
Representative Publications
P. Ovidii Nasonis Heroidum Epistula IX: Deianira Herculi, Le Monnier, Florence, 1995.
Servius: Exegetical Stratifications and Cultural Models, co-editor with Fabio Stok, Collection Latomus, Brussels, 2008.
Virgilio, Eneide 2, introduzione, traduzione e commento, Ediioni della Normale, Pisa, 2017; second edition, 2019.
Virgilio: Guida all’Eneide, Carocci, Rome, 2023.
Early Modern and Modern Commentaries on Virgil, De Gruyter, Berlin and Boston, 2026.
Education
Sergio Casali was born in Varazze, Italy, in 1969. He attended both the undergraduate and doctoral programs at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. With a scholarship from the Scuola Normale, he studied at St John’s College, Oxford, in 1992–1993. He received his degree in Classics from the University of Pisa in 1993. In 1998 he was appointed to a permanent research position at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, where he has spent the rest of his academic career.