Lezioni di poesia highlights an aspect that has hitherto been little investigated in the poetics of Iosif Brodsky: the rich inter-textual network that links his verses to classical literature. The Brodskian intertext never appears as "imitation", rather as "mimesis", as a mediation, sometimes hidden by the presence of diachronically closer cultures, first of all the unavoidable Russian one, strongly imbued with meaning and teachings: «(Writing, the feather little created). / But how much light gives in the night, / with the dark melting, the ink! ». Lezioni di poesia offers moments of reflection on the intense and nuanced relationship that binds Brodsky's and Aristotelian poetics, and on the subtle but equally strong connections of Brodsky's idea of democracy with that of the government organisation in Plato's Republic. Through a historical journey, the volume outlines the traits of Brodsky, a reader of the classics and, at the same time, a person intimately involved, on an individual and collective level, in the events of Russian culture. In Brodsky’s "dialogical approach", in particular towards the ancient classical culture, the poet's features emerge clearly, which together evoke inspiration, thought (profound and strongly imbued with philosophy), moral rigour (ironic and self-deprecating), renunciation of the exhibition of feelings, tension towards a "universalised" and "estranged" autobiographical writing, a strong and constant link with the narration of myths and, in an increasingly remarkable way over the time of existence and work, a progressive prevail of the "signs" of classical authors.