Il sapere di Vitruvio e le tradizioni enciclopediche in tempi umanistici

Modern art history's view of Vitruvius is narrow. Vitruvius himself propagated the comprehensive encyclio of the discipline and understood it as a whole (uti corpus unum). This manifested itself in the encyclopedic literature from Isidore through Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor to Vincent de Beauvais, and also in the humanistic literature, such as Poliziano's Panepistemon. Since Poleni, the architecturally oriented Vitruvius literature has neglected Giorgio Valla, who was responsible for the Venetian Vitruvius edition of 1497. In De expetendis et fugiendis rebus (1502) he assigned Vitruvius to the field of oeconomia, placing him at its forefront, an understanding deriving from comprehensive real-life experience. [Publisher's text]