Monstrator ait. Città invisibili in Lucano e in Baudelaire

It belongs to the morphology of the landscape, in the Pharsalia, the region ubi Troia fuit and in particular the site of the city, made invisible by the destruction and the vegetation that hides its remains. The episode of Caesar’s visit to these places is the most remarkable example of the “poetry of ruins” in Latin literature. Thanks to what remains hidden – material remains as well as subtexts – a competition of perspectives is established that confronts the reader with important, if not decisive, choices for the interpretation of the poem. Baudelaire’s Le Cygne, in its own way an example of the poetry of ruins, documents the reception of Lucan’s episode. In recent times, the study of the modern reception of the Pharsalia has been deepened,and in particular Baudelaire’s interest in its themes and style. His invisible city, the Paris that no longer exists, bears undoubtedly a memory of the Trojan episode in Lucan.