On February 13^th, 2018 a conference on the theme "Transformations of the body" took place at the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology (FISPPA) of the University of Padua. The conference was attended by scholars from four different universities, both Italian and foreign. Given the quality of the presentations, the idea was born to publish the Conference Proceedings in the form of a special issue of Orbis Idearum. The papers that have passed the selection, based as always on the double blind peer review, are now gathered in this large volume, which bears the same title as the conference. The contributions deal with issues spread over a very broad time span, ranging from prehistory to the present day. Some authors have partially deviated from the typically interpretive descriptive approach of the history of ideas, sometimes venturing into axio-normative discussions – a "slip" perhaps unavoidable, if we consider the great social importance of the theme. Editors and reviewers have agreed jointly to allow the broadening of the discourse outside the theoretical and methodological lines of the discipline, provided that it was grafted onto a robust historical reconstruction.