The work examines the differences and the relations between the visual perception of an architecture and of a perspective. In some cases, in fact, it is possible that a perspective represents an architecture which is also built-up. Furthermore every perspective drawing can be seen as a two-dimensional pattern. And the low probability that this fact now happens is only a demonstration of the strength reached today by a mental habit. The first part of the work is a review of the main results of the experimental psychology which concern our problem. A particular emphasis is given to the processes involved in the visual perception of an object in a three-dimensional space. The second part outlines the historical way - tipically non linear - on the modern perspective settlement in the Italian Renaissance period. Attention is here focused on: a) the theorists awareness of the knowledge elements required to pass from the perspective drawings to a three-dimensional space; b) the artists feeling of the real complexity of the problem. So the artist's use of architectures to induce the required habit, by forcing the immediate perception of the high regular, geometical structure is pointed out; but also the means employed to obtain illusory perspectives in built-in architecture, and the dialectical interchanges occurred between architecture and perspective. They demonstrate both the necessity of a mental habit, and the modulations that are possible in applying this mental habit.

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