The Italian Renaissance of Machines

Galluzzi’s lavishly illustrated The Italian Renaissance of Machines lacks a full-fledged introduction and contains no conclusion. Hence, it lacks an overarching framework that explains how the three chapters that compose virtually all of it fit together to form a unifying theme. To be sure, Galluzzi offers certain comprehensive arguments in the brief preface: “From the first decades of the fourteenth century, Italy was the stage of a revival of interest in technical issues, of original discussions on the very concept of machine, and of the development of new graphic conventions for effectively representing its structure, components, and functions” (vii). As he also observes, “The most original contribution of these new authors was indeed the systematic recourse to images and the prominent role assigned to them” (ix). As a result, “these works displayed a new dimension of the very concept of ‘text,’ as verbal descriptions now engaged in a constructive dialogue...