This paper offers a critical analysis of Commentary on the Orphic Hymns by Matteo Tafuri, a sixteenth-century philosopher and physician, situating his work within the broader framework of Renaissance natural philosophy. Far from being a merely exegetical text, the Commentary elaborates a complex conception of nature as a vital, intelligent, and ordering principle, shaped by a wide range of philosophical traditions—including Aristotelian physics, Platonic and Neoplatonic metaphysics, Stoic theology, and Hermetic-Orphic thought. His reinterpretation of the Orphic corpus contributes to redefining the epistemological and ontological status of nature, offering one of the most sophisticated expressions of a scientia naturalis that integrates metaphysical, magical, and symbolic dimensions.
Keywords: Matteo Tafuri, Nature, Renaissance Natural Philosophy, Orphic Tradition, Neoplatonism.