The essay traces the intellectual trajectory of Cesare Vasoli, beginning with his education at the prestigious Florentine school under Eugenio Garin. It examines the specific contributions he made to the history of philosophy and humanistic-Renaissance culture, focusing on the distinctiveness of his interpretation compared to traditional conceptions and on the connections and affinities with Konrad Burdach’s position. Furthermore, it explores the lines of research that were central to the distinguished scholar’s work: Platonism and prisca theologia; the religious crisis at the end of the 15th century; the prophetic, apocalyptic and magical traditions and their connections with the renewal of scientific thought; the relationship between the development of the new humanistic dialectics and the projects for constructing modern encyclopedic enterprises.