The essay, inspired by Ferrone’s book Storia dei diritti dell’uomo, intends to analyze the developments of the debate on human rights in the history of Western thought, especially in relation to the ideas of late Enlightenment. The attention is focused on thinkers such as Rousseau, Genovesi, and the exponents of the early German romanticism to conclude, following the original Ferrone’s itineraries, with a personality that seems detached from the Enlightenment as Giambattista Vico, properly portrayed as a man of that age.