Due piatti in equilibrio tra storia e mito

The paper deals with an object of industrial production that is still in use in the street markets and in the sale of food products: the scale. Its first appearance, dating back to about ten thousand years ago, can be considered a watershed between primitive societies and culturally evolved ones.Indeed, the use of the scale documents the acquisition and mastery of important theoretical, technical and pratical knowledge of arithmetics by a large portion of the population. The scale is first investigated for its historical, artistic and symbolic value (with special reference to balance and justice), then for its scientific relevance, with special reference to classification. The latter is based on the types and models that have been used in the course of history: from the classic scale to the receiver, up to the modern semiautomatic, automatic and digital scales. The paper ends with a short foray into the world of industrial design of the twentieth century, through the forms that have now cult status (such as the bench scales produced by Van Berkel's Patent Company Ltd.).