Guarino e il restauro dei graeca in Gellio

This paper focuses upon the humanistic restoration of Greek passages quoted by Aulus Gellius. A new examination of 25 manuscript dating from the 15th century allows the Author to argue for the following conclusions. There are three typolo- gies of restorations of the Greek passages in the noctes Atticae: (1) a group of manuscripts – stemming from the Florentine milieu of Niccolò Niccoli and Poggio Bracciolini – in which the Greek passages are restored in the shape they display in the mediaeval manuscripts. (2) A group of manuscripts in which the Greek pas- sages are recovered in part from the mediaeval manuscripts of the noctes Atticae, in part from the direct tradition of the authors quoted by Gellius: they reflect the philological work by Guarino. (3) The restoration realized by Theodorus Gaza in cooperation with Andrea Bussi in order to complete the editio princeps, in which there are a number of interpolations. Then, through a fresh analysis of Guarino’s letters, the Author illustrates the history of Guarino’s restoration in a new per- spective. A full examination of the Greek quotations in five passages of the noctes Atticae (1, 5, 1; 1, 5, 3; 1, 11, 5; 10, 22; 13, 7) closes the paper.