  In this historical note, we wish to highlight the crucial conceptual role
played by the principle of virtual work of analytical mechanics, in working out
the fundamental notion of parallel transport on a Riemannian manifold, which
opened the way to the theory of connections and gauge theories. Moreover, after
a detailed historical-technical reconstruction of the original Levi-Civita's
argument, a further historiographical deepening and a related critical
discussion of the question, are pursued.
