The Alchemists of Florence: From the Middle Ages to the Medici Court

Regarded by many as a precursor to chemistry, alchemy is a form of inquiry that pursues the regeneration of matter and spirit in search of their common essence.
Its roots lie in ancient philosophical traditions, rediscovered in Florence through the translations of Marsilio Ficino and the studies of Pico della Mirandola. Yet the city had already been home to notable scholars including Guido Bonatti, Cecco d’Ascoli and Strozzo Strozzi in earlier centuries. During the Renaissance, alchemy attracted the interest of figures ranging from Leonardo da Vinci and Zoroastro da Peretola to Caterina Sforza, Antonio Neri, Cosimo I de’ Medici and Francesco I de’ Medici.
By retracing the experiences of these scholars and practitioners, this book seeks to reconstruct, as far as possible, the intellectual and cultural environment in which they worked, as well as the practical and theoretical results of their investigations.