Leonardo da Vinci and Tuscany.
This tour is conducted by car.
The tour visits the place and house where the great artist was born and raised, two museums with models of his works described in his “Codices.”
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the three titans of the Renaissance, along with Michelangelo Buonarotti and Raphael Santi. His uncanny giftedness in a wide variety of arts and fields of knowledge (from physics and mathematics to military science and construction) made his name legendary. Many of Leonardo da Vinci’s ideas were far ahead of their time and found their realisation centuries later.
Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452 in the small Tuscan town of Vinci, 30 km from Florence, at the foot of Monte Albano. According to some accounts, he was born on a farm in the village of Anchiano at the exit of Vinci, in a picturesque setting of olive trees, vineyards and poppy fields.
The Leonardo da Vinci Museum is located in his home town of Vinci in a medieval castle specially restored for this purpose. The museum features life-size models of various machines and mechanisms recreated from Da Vinci’s drawings, showing his interests in a wide range of fields, from warfare and flight devices to construction and textile production. The exhibition is complete with digital animations and interactive screens with descriptions. And next to the castle is the church of Santa Croce, where, according to legend, the future genius was baptised.
In 1499 Leonardo had to return from Milan, occupied by French troops, to Florence. It was during this “Florentine” period that Leonardo painted his most famous painting, “La Gioconda”, and received a large commission from the Florentine authorities to paint one of the walls of the hall of the Palazzo Vecchio.
The Uffizi Gallery’s Cabinet of Drawings and Prints contains drawings made by the hand of Leonardo da Vinci. The artist left behind numerous sketches and sketches that record the main stages of work on paintings and statues.
The Uffizi Gallery has a separate room dedicated to the works of the young Leonardo da Vinci. These are paintings painted before he moved to Milan in 1482.
