Dante's Visions

Dante's Visions: Crossing Sights on Natural Philosophy, Theory of Vision, and Medicine in the Divine Comedy and Beyond offers a fascinating insight into Dante's engagement with the science of his time, particularly with visual perception and neurological disorders.

Cecilia Panti is Professor of History of medieval philosophy at the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy). Her research interests in the fields of philosophy, optics, theory of music, and the quadrivium are featured in numerous academic journals and collective volumes. Her publications include editions of Robert Grosseteste's cosmological treatises (2001) and his De luce (2011); Johannes Tinctoris' Dictionary of Music (2004); a volume on acoustics in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (2008); and the special issues of the journals Micrologus: Nature, Sciences and Medieval Societies ('Latin and Arabic Theory of Perspective', Volume 29, 2021) and Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval ('Robert Grosseteste and Aristotelianism', Volume 30/1, 2023). Marco Piccolino has taught general physiology and the history of science at the University of Ferrara (Italy), where he is currently a member of the Centre of Neuroscience. He is a neurophysiologist who has conducted significant research in the physiology of the retina, publishing his results in prestigious international journals, including Nature and Science. He has written several volumes on the history of electrophysiology and sensory physiology, notably The Shocking History of Electric Fishes: From Ancient Epochs to the Birth of Modern Neurophysiology (2011) with Stanley Finger; Shocking Frogs: Galvani, Volta, and the Electric Origins of Neuroscience (2013) with Marco Bresadola; and Galileo's Visions: Piercing the Spheres of the Heavens by Eye and Mind (2013), with Nicholas J. Wade.

Introduction Cecilia Panti and Marco Piccolino Chapter 1 Dante and Natural Philosophy Simon A. Gilson Chapter 2 Visual Motion Illusions in the Classical Era and in the Middle Ages Nicholas J. Wade Chapter 3 Vision as a Tangible and Dynamic Tool in the Divine Comedy. An Overview Marco Piccolino Chapter 4 Moving Clouds and Bending Towers: The Illusive Motion of the Garisenda in Inferno XXXI Marco Piccolino Chapter 5 Where Do Visions That Do Not Come from Sight Come from? Mirko Tavoni Chapter 6 Seeing the Light: Dante and the Perspectivist Theory of Light as Proper Visible Cecilia Panti Chapter 7 Visual Perception in Dante's Commedia According to the Early Commentaries (1320-1400) Francesca Galli Chapter 8 A Medical Commentary on the Signa amoris in the Vita Nuova Francesco Brigo Chapter 9 Dante, Healthcare and Diseases Michele A. Riva and Lorenzo Lorusso Chapter 10 Dante Neurologist and Neuroanatomist: Evidence from the Divine Comedy Donatella Lippi, Raffaella Bianucci, Elena Varotto, Francesco Arba, and Francesco M. Galassi