Learning about Leonardo

In Belle (our car) we drove to Vinci in search of Leonardo! Parking on the street below the Da Vinci Museum, our first place of interest was Casa Natale di Leonardo. It was a decent ramble uphill though wonderful olive groves to Leanardo's birthplace.

Our walk didn't get off to the best starts. We'd assumed that we could head away from the main road and take a smaller track in the valley. However a little way up the track, we were faced with a private property sign. Not wanting to return the way we came, we spotted a path with stairs of sorts ascending the steep slope of the terraced olive grove. We scuttled up trying not to slide back down emerging at the top to find ourselves still inside the olive grove with the main road still a little distance away. Walking through the long grass, our shoes collected the morning dew and we were glad to get on to the walking trail.

 

Following the red and white #14 signs we wound our way through the olive groves, steadily climbing enjoying the sunshine and warmth. Popping back out on the road, we turned right and continued the few hundred meters to Leonardos childhood house, passing this one on the way!!







The small farmhouse has been well restored but there is not much really to see. We hung around waiting to watch the English version of a movie about the great man being shown inside. The movie included a hologram of an older Leonardo, who was recalling his life. Katy was spooked by this, so Andy and her retreated outside.

 

With a packed picnic, we ventured back down the trail to find a lunch spot amongst the olive trees. Another simple lunch of bread, cheese, tomatoes and cold meat was enjoyed in the Tuscan countryside.

The walk back to Vinci was faster (being downhill) and we were soon entering the Museo Leonardiano. Born in 1452, Leonardo Da Vinci is known as an Italian polymath of the Renaissance. Spread over two buildings, the museums exhibitions had many models on display accompanied by reproductions of sketches and handwritten notes.The Conti Guidi Castle housed Leonardo's interests in war, architecture, mechanics and flight on the ground floor. The Andy and girls enjoyed the information on flight while I liked the olive press.

  An early tank!

 Bridge construction

 Exploring flight

 Olive press

The first floor was dedicated to optics and perspective and movement both on land and water. Up a small staircase was the last exhibit - models of geometric solids.

 

After exiting this building we walked along the terrace with views over the Montalbano hills to the next building Palazzina Uziell. This building focusses on Leonardo's designs of building-site machinery, textile manufacturing technology, mechanical clocks and anatomy. By this stage the girls were tired of looking at stuff so they remained outside playing cards (spit - one of two card games played incessantly on this trip - the other being Monopoly Deal) in the sunshine.

We were truly amazed by the variety and depth of Leonardo's knowledge. His early days as an artists apprentice provided the platform for Leonardo to express and detail his understandings and inventions on a wide range of areas. Leonardo travelled widely during his 67 years filling many notebooks with his left-handed mirror script. These ideas were not published  but prove he was a man well ahead of his time!