Platina (Bartolomeo Sacchi, known as) (1421-1481)

Leonardo mentions no less than three times in his manuscripts Bartolomeo Sacchi (1421-1481), also known as Platina, the author of the first treatise on modern cuisine – De honesta voluptate et valitudine (1480). Platina, who was born in the town of Piadina near Cremona, was a renowned gourmet and a welcome guest at the courts of the Dukes of Gonzaga and of the Medici. He served as the prefetto of the Biblioteca Vaticana and, together with Marsilio Ficino, enjoyed close ties with the Accademia Medicea di Careggi. Leonardo’s closing observation with regard to Sacchi became quite well known: “Does not nature produce enough herbs to satisfy you? And if you are not content with these simples, can you not with the combining of these create an infinite number of mixtures, as Platina and other authors of fine eating wrote?” (RLW19084).