This book is F.'s collective research on Virgil integrated into one volume. In a condensed yet comprehensive passage the title and orientation of the volume are justified. The subcategories ‘etica’, ‘poetica’, ‘politica’ explore Virgil's political engagement in the Georgics and Aeneid.

The volume channels the investigation of Virgil's ethics, poetics and politics into two major directions: the centrality of teaching and educating in the political and social realms in Rome and the moral responsibilities these efforts carry. Virgil's ideas mature in the context of Octavian's policies dating from Actium when the poet's sense for the political reality in which he lives and works becomes sharpened and refined. F. proposes a philological enquiry into artistic components as being parts of the moral whole (Romanitas, p. 64) that have made Virgil's works so distinctive and unrivalled. This aim is evident on every page of the book.

In essence, the book is an exhaustive guide through classical traditions and models, which makes it valuable reading. Built on these fundamental parts, Virgil emerges as a poet of deep reflection offering a choice of living with a timeless message for posterity (p. 47). The many intricate syntactical and rhetorical analyses put forth by F. reveal the bewildering richness of sound and words in Virgil's poetics. ‘Poetica’ in the sense of this book refers to close and responsive reading of the text. It is an approach that opens ever new directions for the reader.

On this solid ground F. examines Virgil's political engagement with Rome and Octavian in particular. Virgil's works are saturated with the causa Romana but also with the support of the traditions of old Rome, the values of family and the origins of Rome. These strands operate simultaneously throughout the poems. I should add my observations on the revival of the tradition of uniuira in the Aeneid attesting to this dual orientation (Electronic Antiquity 14.1 [2010]).

The merit of this book lies in the acute and sensitive penetration into the richness of Virgil's creative activity, the breadth of his sources and, above all, their novel relevancy. However, in a book of such scope, an index is indispensable and its absence contributes to the overall impression one often has of reading separate chapters without a cohesive internal thread. Although critical opinions are fully cited in the footnotes, a complete bibliography would have provided an overview of works consulted. An alphabetical listing of authors is not sufficient. However, the bibliography does offer useful perspectives into the vast scope of international Virgil scholarship without overloading the reader. In addition, the footnotes are often welcome digressions containing fertile expositions of critical viewpoints. Longer quotations would have benefited from summary translations.

The prescriptive headings of each chapter lead the reader directly into the topic of discussion. The chapters are organised around the Georgics (Chapters 1–3) and the Aeneid (Chapters 4–7). The final Chapter 8 is a synopsis of Virgil the poet and Roman citizen deeply engaged in Octavian's new age of politics and power.

In the first chapter F. writes about the agricola in the Georgics as the construct of a new kind of world citizen. The chapter's title is an introduction to the newness of the poem itself as a carmen non fictum without lengthy and fancy preludes (pp. 45–6). The agricola is established as a uis humana, a being of power and source in whom rests the poet's mandate: Octavian and his political advisers incarnate a new age of human life (aurea aetas). F. draws out from the antique tradition of the agricultural senex Virgil's new ideological system of agriculture and politics. Agriculture (labor) destroyed by war becomes a symbol of saneness in human society. Labor improbus turns into a grandiose civil action, an invitation to Romans to collaborate in the rebuilding of a new political reality of peace in which peace is a viaticum of progress in the individual solitary effort of the agricola for the benefit of all: the metaphor for the four books in the collective labor omnibus unus of the bees is turned through the reversal of labor improbus into an effort of educating a new citizen of Rome and of the world. Chapter 2 examines the transformation of landscape (metapaesaggio) in the laudes of Georgics 2 and the praise of country life in which the agricola motif (metapoesia) is projected into Augustan world power. It is a detailed discourse on Virgil's political ethics with ample critical overviews on landscape. The katabasis topic for Orpheus in Chapter 3 is inspired by Euripides' Alcestis and is explored across antique traditions. Virgil fundamentally transforms the mythological figure of Orpheus into a statement of frailty where death is the limit of human omnipotence and possibilities embodied in labor. In Chapter 4, F. traces the evolution of Juno across Greek and Roman traditions. Aeneas emerges as the incarnation of a new age and new type of epic hero in antithesis to Juno. Embodied by Octavian himself, the new hero represents universal omnipotence (Romanitas). In the internal narrative scheme of the poem Romanitas is a learning process: Juno only has a function as long as she is battling the Trojans and Roman destiny. Chapter 5 is aptly entitled ‘Percorsi poetici del paesaggio nell’Eneide'. These crossings into the diversity of landscapes in the Aeneid are copiously examined with rich references to classical precedents. F. persuasively shows Virgil's sensitivity to all nature, above all by bringing out the effects of his language. Chapter 6 is an excursus of Aeneid 6, the episode of Deiphobus ‘bello clarus’. This characteristic is painstakingly traced through Greek models with respect to Deiphobus' rights of leadership as Hector's brother. Here Deiphobus transfers leadership and succession rights to Aeneas, the guarantor of Rome and a better future (p. 127), however through Virgil's lens of strong empathy with the suffering of the vanquished: bello clarus becomes the negation of glory profoundly absorbed in the ethical consciousness of the poet. Chapter 7 ‘Dark Visibility: Lavinia nell’Eneide' pricks attention by the reference to W.R. Johnson's title. The title links the external flashy visibility of Lavinia's vibrant blushing with her internal vibrant quivering with emotions. The intensity of the colour images is explored from multiple perspectives across Apollonius Rhodius and the Greek tragic tradition and on multiple levels for Lavinia herself in the Aeneid. It is gratifying that F. recognises the complexity of Turnus, a character often profoundly misunderstood. In the end Lavinia represents Rome's future and Virgil's own values through dutiful adherence to the mos maiorum. In one of the richest chapters of the book F. distils the concentrated elements of Virgil's originality: the capacity to transcend genres, the deep internal divisions in the fleeting and elusive characters, the absorbing compassion and empathy, the powerfully subtle skill of language – in short, ‘il geniale artificio del poeta’ (p. 153).

Chapter 8 is a summary of the ideological and political programme in the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid. Politics is embedded in the Roman power players around Octavian. F. extracts detailed textual testimony regarding Virgil's position towards Octavian. Under Octavian's protection, power and politics become personal concerns for Virgil. The poet's ethical pedagogy resides in the revival of Roman traditions and in the reconstruction of the spirit of the Roman people, in which Octavian himself is the embodiment of Anchises' prophecy (Aen. 6). From this ideological–political affirmation arises a new mental epic of sympathy with suffering bestowed on the victors and the vanquished alike. F. concludes with Virgil that in the end all wars are the same: ‘le guerre son tutte uguali!’ (p. 184). This book is a very worthwhile read.