Italian Renaissance humanist writer and gastronomist
1421 CE
to 1481 CE
Bartolomeo Sacchi(1421 – September 21, 1481), known as Platina after his birthplace (Piadena), and commonly referred to in English as Bartolomeo Platina, is an Italian Renaissance humanist writer and gastronomist.
Platina starts his career as a soldier employed by condottieri, before gaining long-term patronage from the Gonzagas, including the young cardinal Francesco, for whom he writes a family history.
He studies under the Byzantine humanist philosopher John Argyropulos in Florence, where he frequents other fellow humanists, as well as members of the ruling Medici family.
Around 1462 he moves with Francesco Gonzaga to Rome, where he purchases a post as a papal writer under the humanist Pius II (Enea Silvio Piccolomini) and becomes a member of the pagan-influenced Roman Academy founded by Pomponio Leto.
Close acquaintance with the renowned chef Maestro Martino in Rome seems to have provided inspiration for a theoretical treatise on Italian gastronomy entitled De honesta voluptate et valetudine ("On honorable pleasure and health"), which achieves considerable popularity and has the distinction of being considered the first printed cookbook.
Platina's papal employment is abruptly curtailed on the arrival of an anti-humanist pope, Paul II (Pietro Barbo), who has the rebellious Platina locked up in Castel Sant'Angelo during the winter of 1464-65 as a punishment for his remonstrations.
In 1468 he is again confined in Castel Sant'Angelo for a further year, where he is interrogated under torture, following accusations of an alleged pagan conspiracy by members of Pomponio's Roman academy involving plans to assassinate the pope.
Platina's fortunes are revived by the return to power of the strongly pro-humanist pope, Sixtus IV (Francesco della Rovere), who in 1475 makes him Vatican librarian—an appointment that is depicted in a famous fresco by Melozzo da Forlì.
He is granted the post after writing an innovative and influential history of the lives of the popes that gives ample space to Roman history and pagan themes, and concludes by vilifying Platina's nemesis, Paul II.
