Andrea Torresano (1451–1528), also known as Andrea Torresani, Andrea Asolano or Andrea d'Asola, was an Italian printer and publisher active in Venice. After learning the printing trade in Nicolas Jenson's workshop he subsequently bought the printing equipment and established his own publication business.
By 1495, Torresano had established himself as one of Venice's leading printers. In his first 15 years of operation he published 173 works, mainly legal texts, philosophy and prayer books. That year he expanded his operations by going into partnership with Aldus Manutius and Francesco Barbarigo to print Greek and Latin texts. Manutius provided most of the scholarly and editorial input, with Torresano supplying most of the capital and managing the workshops. The partnership developed into the Aldine Press which produced both classic and contemporary literature.
After Manutius's death in 1515, Torresano managed the business on behalf of Manutius's underage sons, who continued the family's involvement in printing after his death in 1528.
Early life and career
Torresano was born at Asola in 1451. He learned the printing trade and typography while working for Nicolas Jenson in Venice. In 1479 he bought Jenson's printing business; Jenson died the following year.
He married Lambertina Battaglia, with whom he had five children: Giovanni Francesco, Federico, Giacoma, Lucrezia and Maria (who married his partner Aldus Manutius)
Torresano's printers mark before merging with Aldus Manutius to form the Aldine Press
During this period Torresano worked in partnership with other Venetian printers but his name alone began to appear at the beginning of the eighties, for example in an edition of Lectura super V libris Decretalium by Niccolò Tedeschi (24 July 1483), which was produced in Jenson's type, which he acquired when he bought the business in 1479: "Among the many names of distinguished printers that we meet with during this period, none is more famous than that of Andrea de Torresani of Asola."
During this period, before the partnership with Aldus Manutius, Torresano's produced 173 editions, with a prevalence of legal texts (about half), then works of philosophy and breviaries. Classical works included Virgil (1480), Terence (1480), Aristotle (1483), Livy (1485), the Rerum Venetarum libri of Marco Antonio Sabellico (1487), Ovid (1487-88) and the first edition of Plato's works in the translation by Marsilio Ficino (1491).
As a publisher, he also outsourced work to other Venetian printers in addition to printing in his own workshop.
Partnership with Aldus Manutius: The Aldine Press
In 1495 he entered into a partnership with Aldus Manutius and Francesco Barbarigo to print Greek and Latin texts. Manutius provided most of the scholarly and editorial input, with Torresano supplying 80% of the capital and managing the workshops. The typefaces were created and cut by Francesco Griffo of Bologna, who may have been the creator of the type that Jenson had originally used.
The Aldine Press, had its first publication in March 1495: Erotemata cum interpretatione Latina by Constantine Lascaris. The press's first great achievement was a five-volume folio edition of Aristotle.
As an established printer Torresano had already built up a network of commercial contact and printing operations which became an important factor in the subsequent success of the Aldine press. Torresano built the social network in the City that Aldus lacked
In 1505 the partnership was further strengthened when Manutius married Toresano's daughter Maria. The two printing houses were formally merged in 1508 and from then issued books under the imprint In aedibus Aldi et Andreae Asulani soceri ("In the house of Aldus and his father-in-law Andrea of Asola"). The first book by the new company was Epistles of Pliny the Younger. The new company adopted the trademark of the anchor and the dolphin.
The company was located in the printer's district near the church of San Paterniano in Venice, close to the Rialto bridge. The Aldine Press clearly divided responsibilities between the two partners, with Torresano focused on the everyday operation of the business, profitability, and smooth production processes.
Modern scholars refer to the joint Torresano-Aldus operation as the Aldine Press, although it was the Torresano family that ran the business until the 1550s. The output was mostly Greek and Latin editions of the classics. Among the contemporary authors they produced works by Niccolò Perotti, Giovanni Pontano, Tito Vespasiano and Ercole Strozzi.
After Manutius's death (16 February 1515) he also took over the management of the company on behalf of Aldo's children. In the period up to 1528 the company published 113 more editions, which alongside the Greek and Latin classics included contemporary authors such as: Pietro Bembo's, Gi Asolani; Dante's Inferno; and Boccaccio's, Decameron.
The Aldine mark continued to appear with both names on the title page of their publications.
Legacy
Torresano died in Venice on 21 October 1528.
The printing business was continued by his sons Giovanni Francesco and Federico and subsequently by Giovanni Francesco's sons Andrea, Girolamo and Bernardo, remaining active beyond 1575. It was Giovanni who was responsible for the production of the editions of Galen and Hippocrates and for a number of editions of the commentaries on Aristotle.
The commune of Asola has commemorated Torresano by naming its library after him, and by establishing the Andrea Torresano National Library Prize.
Selected Publications
Breviarium Romanum, in partnership with Pietro Piasi da Cremona and Bartolomeo de Blavis da Alessandria, licensed on 12 October 1479.
Works of Virgil, with the commentary of Servius (1480)
The thirteenth book of the Aeneid composed by Maffeo Vegio (1 August 1480)
Lectura super V libris Decretalium by Niccolò Tedeschi (24 July 1483)
Curt F. Bühler (December 1945). "Some Documents Concerning the Torresani and the Aldine Press". The Library: A Quarterly Review of Bibliography. ser. 4, vol. XXV (3–4): 111–121. ISSN0024-2160.
Nicholas Jenson and the Rise of Venetian Publishing in Renaissance Europe -- Lawry (1991)
New Aldine Studies: Documentary Essays on the Life and Work of Aldus Manuitius -- Fletcher (1988)
↑Serretiello, Coded and developed by Beconcept Studio-Andrea Ruggeri, Ivan Bosnjak, Andrea Contesini, Alessio Bortolotti, Giovanni. "Aldine Editions". Museo Goffredo Bellini. Retrieved 2026-10-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
