The macroseismic scales used in recent years are the distillate of an evolutionary process in the field of the observation of the earthquakes’ effects which has lasted a couple of centuries. The most modern scale, the EMS-98 (European Macroseismic scale [Grünthal, 1998]) currently in use in Europe, derives from the MSK64 scale (Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik), which in turn, after various other proposals and variations, was an arrangement of the MCS (Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg) of 1930 to the urban condition of central-eastern Europe. Also the MMI (Modified Mercalli) was proposed by Wood and Neumann to adapt the Mercalli scale to the specific case of California, and then extend its use to all the United States. In the world, with the exclusion of Japan that has adopted its own tradition scales (of seven degrees), in the last 130 years, the used scales derive from the De Rossi-Forel first, and then from the Mercalli one. Throughout this period, dozens of scales have been proposed, some other more meaningful than others. It is then worthwhile to snoop in the history of the macroseismic scale, a tool considered, wrongly, until a few years ago obsolete, but back in vogue in recent times. Here I tried to reconstruct its scientific and cultural journey from its origins until the advent of the scale at twelve degrees of Sieberg and the more recent scales. Obviously this note does not claim to be an exhaustive and definitive collection of all the seismic scales that have occurred over time, nor the catalog of all the possible relative sources, because it would go beyond the forces at stake. At least, it would be a guide to the history of the intensity scales, especially as regards the pioneering period of seismology, between the 19th and 20th centuries, putting together, to the extent available, useful materials, often difficult to retrieve. In particular I tried to leave the reader the possibility of a direct comparison between the largest possible number of scales that have been published over time, proposing the texts translated into Italian directly from the original.