Ut pictura poesis: strategie ‘intervisuali’ nei carmina figurata di Venanzio Fortunato.

This article examines the ‘intervisual’ strategies in Venantius Fortunatus's carmina figurata, analyzing how the poet transforms Optatian Porphyry's visual poetics from imperial panegyric to Christian devotion. Through close reading of the Holy Cross cycle (carm. 2.1-2.6; 5.6), the study reveals how Fortunatus exploits the semantic overlap between lignum (wood/tree) to create complex visual metaphors. The analysis demonstrates systematic intertextual relationships with Optatian while highlighting Fortunatus's innovations, including the 33x33 letter square matching Christ's age. The paper introduces the concept of ‘intervisuality’ to describe how visual patterns transcend mere textual borrowing, creating new meaning through graphic form.