Benivieni, Girolamo (1453-1542)

Italian poet and humanist. One of the many writers who enjoyed the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici, he became known for his long poem Canzone d'amore/Song of Love (c. 1487), an adaptation of Plato's Symposium. Later he came under the influence of the religious leader Savonarola and wrote religious poetry.

He was born and educated in Florence, where he was strongly influenced by the Neo-Platonism that flourished among the scholars under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici - Benivieni's Canzone d'amore was based on a translation of and commentary on the Symposium by the leading Neo-Platonist scholar Marcilio Ficino. His reputation was assured when Pico della Mirandola produced an extensive commentary on his poem. This poem greatly assisted the spread of Neo-Platonism and had a wide influence on many Italian writers of the period.

After becoming a follower of Savonarola, he wrote some religious poetry, undertook a study of Dante's Inferno, and translated one of Savonarola's treatises.