The Myth of the Platonic Academy of Florence

Nee enim tarn numeranda veterumtestimonia sunt quam ponderanda.Poliziano, Misc. I. 39There has never been much doubt among Renaissance scholars about the leading role played by Marsilio Ficino and Neoplatonic philosophy in the cultural life of the High Renaissance. From the time of his first biographer, Giovanni Corsi, Ficino's work of recovering and disseminating Platonism was held to be one of the great achievements of Medici patronage. The publication history of his translations and other writings during the early modern period attests to the widespread interest they aroused, not only among professional philosophers, but also among educated persons in general.