LANDINO, CRISTOFORO. - Born at Pratovecchio in 1424, died at Firenze in 1498. He pursued his first studies at Volterra, and was subsequently a teacher at the Florentine Studium, secretary of the Guelf party, and chancellor of the signoria.
An eminent humanist, he held a distinguished place among the Latin poets of the fifteenth century, marking with the canzoniere Xandra the transition from the rough forms of Marsuppini to the exquisite elegance of Poliziano. He appears as an engaging expositor in the four books of the Disputaciones Camaldulenses, in which, reconciling the theories of the classics with Christianity, by means of arguments drawn from Cicero, St Augustine, St Thomas, and Ficino (who is one of the interlocutors together with Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, Donato Acciaiuoli, L. Battista Alberti, and others), he discusses the active and contemplative life, the highest good, God, in whom man's supreme happiness resides. In the De vera nobilitate the humanistic concept that derives nobility from deeds is elucidated; whereas the dialogues De nobilitate animae are connected with Ficinian theories, maintaining, against the Averroists, the divine nobility of the human soul. Great impetus was given to Dante studies by L.'s commentary on the Commedia, which appeared in 1481, illustrated by Botticelli.