 Porta’s impressive number of texts are written in very different literary genres, ranging from learned Latin treatises to stage plays—mannerist comedies written in Italian, some of which resonated widely and seem to have influenced Shakespeare (Clubb 1964, 2008). The wonders Porta produced onstage and in his experimental spaces had a decidedly histrionic character, often with the intent to expand experiments and build reliable artifacts generating wonder. Perhaps this alignment of theater and nascent science provides one of the more coherent perspectives on Porta’s many different intellectual endeavors. In his ceaseless and tenacious practical endeavours Porta created “a stage where nature performs” at various levels, unveiling its tricks to demonstrate experiences, and a metaphysical space in which the principles of magic are demonstrated (Eamon 2017, 34). This kind of naturalism also serves Porta as a model for a peculiar form of self-fashioning (Kodera 2012). With Porta, creating and designing such kinds of marvels by means of artifacts and different media entailed effectively a reflection on and work with the powers of the human imagination: this is as formidable an intellectual task in Porta’s day as it is in ours.