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This paper sets out a critical panorama of scientific translations in Italian from the 14th through the 15th century, with particular focus on translations from Arabo-Latin sources. It examines the intellectual status of scientific texts in the late Middles Ages with respect to the classifications of knowledge developed in the context of scholastic and university culture. At the same time, the paper attempts to reconstruct certain characteristics of the readers of these translations. Particular focus is given to the Palatine 641 Manuscript in the Florence BNC. This manuscript dates from the end of the 15th century and has so far been overlooked as evidence of a series of Italian translations of Arabo-Latin astrological sources. There appears to be some cultural and textual continuity between the astrological collections produced in Latin circles and their acceptance into the vernacular.