Giovanni Cavalcanti was an Italian poet from Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, a member of the Platonic Academy of Florence that met in the Villa Medici at Careggi

Villa Medici at Careggi

The Villa Medici at Careggi is a patrician villa in the hills near Florence, Tuscany, central Italy.-History:The villa was among the first of a number of Medici villas, notable as the site of the Platonic academy founded by Cosimo de' Medici, who died at the villa in 1464...

 under the guidance of Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino

Marsilio Ficino was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, an astrologer, a reviver of Neoplatonism who was in touch with every major academic thinker and writer of his day, and the first translator of Plato's complete extant works into Latin...

. Ficino and Cavalcanti were particular friends: Giovanni Cavalcanti lived for many years with Ficino at his villa, and Marsilio dedicated his essay De amore (1484) to Cavalcanti, who had urged him to compose it. Ficino introduced the concept of "Platonic love

Platonic love

Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...

" and addressed many letters to his Giovanni amico mio perfettisimo ("Giovanni my most perfect friend").