The Prisca theologia, or venerable and ancient theology, which embodied the truth and could be found in all ages, was a vitally important idea for Ficino.

The most important humanists living in Matthias ' court were Antonio Bonfini, Galeotto Marzio, Pietro Ranzano, Marsilio Ficino, Aurelio Lippo Brandolini and the Hungarian poet Janus Pannonius.

In this cycle, there are no fewer than twenty-one portraits of the Tornabuoni and Tornaquinci families – in the Angel appearing to Zacharias, portraits of Politian, Marsilio Ficino and others ; in the Salutation of Anna and Elizabeth, the beautiful Giovanna Tornabuoni ( identified ( incorrectly ) by Giorgio Vasari as Ginevra de Benci ); in the Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple, Sebastiano Mainardi and Alessio Baldovinetti ( some art historians have surmised that the latter figure may be the likeness of Ghirlandaio's father ).

As a physician of the early 16th century, Paracelsus held a natural affinity with the Hermetic, neoplatonic, and Pythagorean philosophies central to the Renaissance, a world-view exemplified by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola.

Renaissance Neo-Platonists, such as Marsilio Ficino, whose translations of Plato were still used into the nineteenth century, attempted to reconcile Platonism with Christianity, according to the suggestions of the early Church fathers, Lactantius and Saint Augustine.

Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco studied under notable Florentine Renaissance humanists Marsilio Ficino, Angelo Poliziano and Giorgo Antonio Vespucci ( uncle of the navigator Amerigo Vespucci ; Amerigo was a fellow-student and, from the 1483, became an employee and friend of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco ; in the early 1500s, Amerigo Vespucci would send most of his famous letters on the " New World " to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco ).

This is true among others for the philosophy of Marsilio Ficino ( 1433 – 1499 ), who reinterpreted Plato in the light of his early Greek commentators and also of Christianity.

Ficino hoped that a purified philosophy would bring about a religious renewal in his society and therefore transformed distateful aspects of Platonic philosophy ( for instance, the homosexual love exalted in the Symposium ) into spiritual love ( i. e., Platonic love ), something later transformed by Pietro Bembo and Baldassar Castiglione in the early sixteenth century as something also applicable to relationships between men and women.

His circle of friends included the architect of the Duomo, Filippo Brunelleschi, and the philosopher Marsilio Ficino ; he knew Leon Battista Alberti, mathematician, writer and architect ; and his closest friend was Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, himself a wide-ranging intellect and early humanist, who dedicated two short mathematical works, both written in 1445, to Toscanelli, and made himself and Toscanelli the interlocutors in a dialogue entitled ‘ On Squaring the Circle ( De quadratura circuli ) written in 1458.

Many philosophers from the Renaissance are today read and remembered, even if often not categorized into a single category, but spread into modern philosophy ( if they fit, especially if oriented towards empiricism and rationalism, like Galileo Galilei or Machiavelli ) or instead put back into the Middle Ages, especially if heavily influenced by esoteric traditions ( like Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino and even Nicholas of Cusa and Giordano Bruno ).

The key theme of Ficino ’ s philosophy held that there is an underlying unity to the world, the soul or love, which has a counterpart in the realm of ideas.

From Marsilio Ficino he learned the rudiments of philosophy.

Although Ficino ’ s interest in and practice of astrology was not uncommon in his time, one should not necessarily associate it with philosophy, as the two were usually considered to be quite separate and often in contradiction with each other.

In the 15th century, Proclus ' commentary influenced the philosophy of Nicolas of Cusa, and Neoplatonists Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino penned a major commentaries.

During the Italian Renaissance, for example, translators such as Ficino and Pico della Mirandola turned their attention to the classical literature of Neoplatonism, and what was thought to be the pre-Mosaic tradition of Hermeticism.

The Renaissance saw the continuation of interest in magic that had been found in the Mediaeval period, and in this period, there was an increased interest in Hermeticism amongst occultists and ceremonial magicians in Europe, largely fuelled by the 1471 translation of the ancient Corpus hermeticum into Latin by Marsilio Ficino ( 1433 – 1499 ).

Marsilio Ficino argued that Plato's references to reincarnation were intended allegorically, Shakespeare made fun but Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake by authorities after being found guilty of heresy by the Roman Inquisition for his teachings.

The Pymander, from which Marsilio Ficino formed his opinion, states that " they called him Trismegistus because he was the greatest philosopher and the greatest priest and the greatest king ".

The first was when he returned to settle for a time in Florence in November 1484 and met Lorenzo de ' Medici and Marsilio Ficino, on the astrologically auspicious day Ficino had chosen to publish his translations of the works of Plato from Greek into Latin under Lorenzo ’ s enthusiastic patronage.

It was there, as he wrote to Ficino, that " divine Providence [...] caused certain books to fall into my hands.

After some centuries out of favor, Hermeticism was reintroduced to the West in 1460, when the monk Leonardo da Pistoia brought the Corpus Hermeticum to Pistoia to be translated by Ficino.

The pymander, from where Marsilio Ficino formed his opinion, states that " they called him Trismegistus because he was the greatest philosopher and the greatest priest and the greatest king ".

* Marsilio Ficino ( 1433 – 1499 ) Influential Italian humanist philosopher who revived Neoplatonism and was a leader in the Renaissance ; translated all of Plato's and Plotinus ' works into Latin, as well as many Neoplatonic authors and the Corpus Hermeticum.

He was also one of the scholars at the Platonic Academy under the leadership of Marsilio Ficino, at the Careggi Villa.

Ficino and his followers also had an interest in ‘ hidden knowledge ’, mainly because of his belief that all of ancient knowledge was interconnected ( Moses, for instance, had received his insights from the Greeks, who in turn had received them from others, all according to God ’ s plan and therefore mutually consistent ; Hermeticism is relevant here ).

Here Pletho met and influenced Cosimo de ' Medici to found a new Platonic Academy, which, under Marsilio Ficino, would proceed to translate into Latin all Plato's works, the Enneads of Plotinus, and various other Neoplatonist works.

These pro-Egyptian currents influenced Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as Renaissance figures such as Copernicus, Ficino and Giordano Bruno.

" It has significantly influenced West European magical thinking from Marsilio Ficino in the 15th century, to Thomas Campanella in the 17th century.

* Iamblichus De mysteriis Aegyptorum edited by Marsilio Ficino is published.

* Corpus Hermeticum is translated into Latin language by Marsilio Ficino.

* September – Cosimo de ' Medici, later the de facto ruler of Florence and patron of Marsilio Ficino, is exiled by the Albizzi / Strozzi faction.

* Pimander-Latin translation by Marsilio Ficino, Milano: Damianus de Mediolano 1493.

During the Florentine Renaissance, Cosimo de ' Medici took a personal interest in the new Platonic Academy that he determined to re-establish in 1439, centered on the marvellous promise shown by the young Marsilio Ficino.

In 1462 Cosimo gave Ficino a villa at Careggi for the Academy's use, situated where Cosimo could see it from his own villa, and drop by for visits.

* De amore by Marsilio Ficino ( 1484 )

The impetus for this revival came in the mid 1400's when Leonardo de Candia Pistoia a Byzantine monk, brought in 1460 the Hermetica manuscript and the 14 books called Corpus Hermeticum to the court of Cosimo de ' Medici, ruler of Florence, who later requested the Latin translation by Marsilio Ficino, a member of the de ' Medici's court, who published a collection of thirteen tractates in 1471, as De potestate et sapientia Dei.

* Busts of Giotto ( by Benedetto da Maiano ), Brunelleschi ( by Buggiano-1447 ), Marsilio Ficino, and Antonio Squarcialupi ( a most famous organist ).

* Ficino, Marsilio, Three Books on Life ( 1489 ) vita libri tre translated by Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark, Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton and The Reaissance Society of America ( 1989.

Plato, known directly only through two and a half dialogues in the Middle Ages, came to be known through numerous Latin translations in fifteenth century Italy, culminating in the hugely influential translation of his complete works by Marsilio Ficino in Florence in 1484.

* Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animæ by Marsilio Ficino ( 1433 – 1499 )

* Pimander – Latin translation by Marsilio Ficino, Milano: Damianus de Mediolano 1493.

In 1570 Jean-Antoine de Baïf created one devoted to poetry and music, the Académie de poésie et de musique, inspired by Italian models ( such as the academy around Marsilio Ficino ).