Aldrovandi, Pinelli, Sigonio: interpretazioni plautine tra Padova e Bologna in una lettera del 1582

This essay offers the critical edition of a previously unpublished letter by Ulisse Aldrovandi to Carlo Sigonio dated 1582, which discussed two difficult passages of Plautus’ comedies (Aulularia and Captivi). This text demonstrates an extremely interesting fold of the exegesis of Plautus carried out at the end of the sixteenth century between Bologna and Padua, given that the first input to understand the places came from Gian Vincenzo Pinelli. The letter is analyzed according to the extant volumes of Aldrovandi’s library in Bologna, which display abundant marginal notes later merged into the letter itself.