Acknowledgments
This work is the outcome of my doctoral thesis discussed and awarded at King’s College London in 2017. Since then, many things have changed, especially during this last year, when restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic have often hindered access to libraries. I owe my deepest gratitude to all the generous scholars and friends that assisted me in providing information, support, and bibliographic material: Mattia Balbo, Stefano Barbati, Riccardo Bertolazzi, Silvia Braito, Yanne Broux, Alfredo Buonopane, Lucia Carbone, Giulia Donelli, Ivan Di Stefano Manzella, Giacomo Fedeli, Claudia Gatta, Lina Girdvainyte, Attilio Mastrocinque, David Nonnis, Silvia Orlandi, Stefania Pergola, Federica Scicolone, Simonetta Serra, Alexander Thein, Federico Ugolini, and Cristiano Viglietti.
I am extremely grateful to Marta García Morcillo and Federico Santangelo, whose insightful comments have greatly improved the quality of my arguments. They have followed this work well beyond their duty as examiners.
I would like to thank Dominic Rathbone, my supervisor, for his guidance over these years. He is one of the most honest and sharp human beings I know. I still remember my first meeting with him and a draft of a chapter completely covered by his pencil marks—not that things nowadays have changed so much. His guidance has irreversibly shaped my mind-set and stimulated my intellectual curiosity, and without his supervision this work would not have been possible. I owe thanks also to Henrik Mouritsen, my second supervisor, who has overseen this work from the very beginning. I have been extremely lucky to have benefited from his thoughts and generosity.
I am also grateful to the AHRC-funded London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP), the Italian cultural association ‘Il Circolo’ for funding the earlier stage of this research, and my job at Christie’s, which gave me the opportunity to be surrounded by the most amazing works of art and above all, to witness how auctions work today.
I had the privilege of carrying out most of my research at the Library of the Institute of Classical Studies—the Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies in London—and the library of the Liviano, Biblioteca di Scienze dell’Antichità, Università degli Studi di Padova. I am extremely grateful to the staff of both these institutions for the valuable help they offered me throughout different stages of this work.
I thank the referees who assessed and commented on the manuscript. Their suggestions have greatly improved this work. I owe debts to Brill’s editor Giulia Moriconi for her crucial help, and Damian Penfold for checking my English and many other things!
I am also grateful to Alberto Dalla Rosa, Principal Investigator of the ERC project PATRIMONIVM, at the Ausonius Institut, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, who has given me the opportunity to explore the topic of confiscation in the Imperial age with a new perspective.
My family has supported this work with patience and encouragement. They are the first and most important source of inspiration, the book is dedicated to them.
Arzignano, May 2021