Bartolomeo Platina

Bartolomeo Sacchi (Italian: [ˌbartɔlɔˈmɛɔ ˈsakki]; 1421 – 21 September 1481), known as il Platina (Italian: [il ˈplatina]) after his birthplace of Piadena,^[1] was an Italian Renaissance humanist writer and gastronomist, author of what is considered the first printed cookbook.

Platina started his career as a private soldier, before gaining long-term patronage from the Gonzagas. He studied under the Byzantine humanist philosopher John Argyropulos in Florence, where he frequented other fellow humanists, as well as members of the ruling Medici family. Around 1464, Platina purchased a post as a papal writer under the humanist Pius II, and became a member of the Platonism-influenced Roman Academy founded by Pomponio Leto.

Platina's papal employment was abruptly curtailed on the arrival of the anti-humanist Pope Paul II, who imprisoned Platina in Castel Sant'Angelo during the winter of 1464-65. In 1468 Platina was again confined in Castel Sant'Angelo for a further year, where he was interrogated under torture, following accusations that members of Julius Pomponius Laetus's Roman Academy were plotting to assassinate the Pope.^[2]

Platina's fortunes were revived by the return to power of the strongly pro-humanist pope, Sixtus IV, who in 1475 made him Vatican librarian. He was granted the post after writing a history of the lives of the popes with reference to general Roman history and the themes of Antiquity, a work deeply unsympathetic to Paul II.^[2][3]