Lo sguardo e la scienza: misure infernali, misure dell’uomo e misure divine

The Gaze and the Science: Infernal, Human and Divine Measures. This article reconstructs various contexts and applications of measure- ment in humanistic thought, illustrating the challenge of clearly distin- guishing between speculative and practical conceptions of mathematics, as well as between pre-modern and modern measurement methods. Antonio Manetti’s attempts to measure hell and Francesco Zorzi’s efforts to cap- ture the universe’s musical proportions occur amidst significant shifts in spatial interpretation, influenced by the diffusion of Arab science and the invention of perspective. The essay reflects on the intricate intersections of science, philosophy, and art during the Renaissance.