Dante’s Work in the Interpretation of Humanists of Platonic Academy of Florence

Marsilius Ficino published a translation into Italian of Dante’s The Monarchy in 1468, and Cristoforo Landino published a commented edition of The Divine Comedy, which he began to study and interpret in his university lectures (1458), in 1481. Originally Dante attracted their attention because Florentine humanists have found the arguments against the universal pretentions of Popes in his intellectual heritage. However, very soon Dante, interpreted as poet theologian (poeta theologus), appears mainly as their precursor, becomes a preacher and a kind of personification of their philosophical and theological ideas. In particular, we can talk about the concept of the poetry as realization of an inspiration received from above, the theory of the worldbuilding function of love producing and arranging all being, as well as the attitude towards reconciliation of ancient pagan wisdom with Christianity which Ficino tried to demonstrate in all his works. This is the interpretation of Dante that was spread among the writers, poets, artists in the end of the 15th – first decades of the 16th centuries. Thanks to Landino’s commentary, they had the opportunity to get acquainted with the philosophical and aesthetic issues of Ficino and the humanists of his circle.