Lawrence Torrentinus
Lawrence Torrentinus, also known as Lorenzo Torrentino, Laurentius Torrentinus, Laurens van den Bleeck (1499–1563) was a Dutch-Italian humanist and famous typographer and printer for Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence Biography. Laurentius Torrentinus was born as Laurens van den Bleeck in Gemert, (Northern Brabant, the Netherlands) as a member of a prosperous family. He probably studied at the municipal Latin School in 's-Hertogenbosch, where Macropedius was teaching. After that, Torrentinus must have worked for printers and booksellers in Antwerp, Basel, Lyon and Venice. Since 1532-1533 he lived in Bologna. Here he was a bookseller  together with his fellow countryman, the great Greek scholar Arnoldus Arlenius, operating under the business name "Libreria del Thodesco". Their business was near the San Andrea della Scuole chapel in the centre of Bologna. They imported Latin and Greek books from France and Germany and sold books all over Italy and beyond. Moreover, they were brokers in manuscripts: they made contacts between manuscript owners and authors on the one hand and printers and publishers on the other hand. Torrentinus, who was called Lorenzo Torrentino in Italy, married Nicolosia de Amicis from Bologna on July 14, 1543. He was invited to  Florence by the Duke Cosimo de' Medici in 1546. In 1547 he opened his press in Garbo close to the Church of S. Romolo. Being the Duke's printer, Torrentino produced as many as 275 different books. Among them were works of authors such as Alberti, Giovio, Guicciardini, Camillo and Vasari. Torrentino's company flourished and it offered works of high quality. One of his most famous publications was the "Digesta", the codification of Roman Law, in 1553.