Circle gathered around Ficino between 1462 and 1494, in a villa at Careggi put at their disposal by Cosimo de’ Medici. It was a central intellectual influence in the Italian Renaissance, its main activities being the translation, study, and reinterpretation of Platonic and Neoplatonic writings.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06067b.htm A biography of Marsilio Ficino, including his role in the Academy