Abstract: This paper aims to define the poems on the Italian Wars by the Neo-Latin poets Andrelini, La Varanne and Forestier in terms of literary genre. Far from being full fledged epic narratives, these poems do present a series of elements derived from the classical epic tradition (introduction formulae of the “cantabo” type, epic similes, a set of Olympic gods, invocations of the muses, catalogues of troops, etc.) and share the Virgilian prototype of the epic genre as a general point of reference.
