author
Ortensio Landi
A restless Renaissance writer and satirist, this Milanese humanist is remembered for sharp, playful books that challenged accepted opinions. His works move between dialogue, paradox, travel writing, and literary experimentation, giving a lively glimpse of 16th-century Italian culture.
3 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Milan around 1510, Ortensio Lando was an Italian Renaissance writer, editor, translator, and humanist. He entered an Augustinian monastery in the 1520s and took the name Geremia, but his life did not stay settled for long. Sources describe him as highly mobile, living in cities including Venice, Padua, Genoa, Siena, Ferrara, Lyon, and Naples.
Lando became known as one of the prolific Italian "polygraphs" of the 16th century: writers who worked across many forms for the fast-growing world of print. He wrote dialogues, satires, paradoxes, and compilations, often with a witty, provocative voice. His best-known works include Paradossi, which plays with ideas by defending surprising or unpopular positions, and a famous book on notable women, Lettere di molte valorose donne.
What makes his writing stand out is its mix of learning, humor, and argument. He could be serious and playful at the same time, using literature to question habits, reputations, and social rules. Even when details of his life remain uncertain, his books still show a curious and independent mind at work in the middle of the Italian Renaissance.