Le terre del Rinascimento:
Vinci
Vinci is situated on the slopes of Montalbano, a beautiful range of hills between Florence and Pistoia, in the heart of Tuscany.
The city is famous, because Leonardo da Vinci, the great artist and scientist, was born there in 1452.
It is also famous for its vineyards and olive groves, which produce excellent wine and extra-virgin olive oil.
The Municipality of Vinci, together with the Municipalities of Capraia e Limite, Cerreto Guidi, Empoli, Fucecchio and Montelupo Fiorentino, in the Province of Florence, are part of the tourist path and Museum network called..
‌Le Terre del Rinascimento (the Renaissance Lands), an artistic, historical and natural route under the sign of the Italian Renaissance heritage.
Vinci was founded by the Etruscans many centuries ago. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the “Counts Guidi Family�, who built the Castle, which still dominates the city.
Vinci fell under the Florentine control in the 13th century and later became a Commune. ViVinci was decreed a city in 1954, on the occasion of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s birth.
Our walking tour starts at the Town Walls and continues towards Leonardo’s Museum.
On the way to the museum we can admire the Church of Santa Croce, which was built in the 13th century.
It has a Romanesque façade and…
‌it contains the baptismal font, where Leonardo was baptized..
…an ancient wooden crucifix, Giovanni della Robbia’s “Madonna and Child” and beautiful paintings such as Fra Paolino da Pistoia’s “Annunciation”.
From here it is easy to reach Piazza dei Guidi...
...where we can see “The Counts Guidi Castle” and...
...“Palazzo Uzielli”.
The Castle looks like a fortress and it contains beautiful frescoes, decorations, wonderful Coats of Arms and one of the two parts of “Leonardo Museum�.
It is also known as the “Ship Castle� because of its long shape, which recalls the shape of a sailing boat.
Behind the Castle, in Piazza Guido Masi, there is a large wooden sculpture by M. Ceroli (1987), an interpretation of Leonardo’s “Vitruvian Man”.
“Leonardo da Vinci Museum” is housed in the “Counts Guidi Castle” and in “Palazzo Uzielli”, which houses the ticket office and the entrance to the museum. The museum, which has been restored and enlarged recently, was created in 1953 when IBM donated the Municipality of Vinci several models by Leonardo.
The collection has become richer and richer thanks to the contributions of scholars, donors and public and private bodies. “Leonardo Museum� is very famous all over the world, because it contains are of the richest and most original collections of Leonardo’s machines and models.
All the machines and models on show in the museum are presented together with detailed references to the artist’s sketches and notes and sometimes also with interactive software.
The visit to the museum begins in “Palazzo Uzielli�.
On the first floor there are the sections devoted to textile technology, building site technology and mechanical clocks. In the first room we can see Leonardo’s elaboration on Brunelleschi’s drawings for the construction of the Cathedral in Florence.
The textile technology room shows Leonardo’s projects aimed at automatizing the cloth manufacturing process.
In the mechanical clock room we can see some models of measuring instruments.
The building has also rooms where temporary exhibitions and educational workshop are held. Our tour continues inside “the Counts Guidi Castle�, where we can admire over 60 models of machines invented by Leonardo.
On the ground floor there are the section devoted to architecture, civil engineering and was machines. Here we can see the models of the “flapping wing frames”, “the casting cannon”, the devices designed by Leonardo to swing church bells and other famous models of mechanical works invented by Leonardo.
Other important machines and models on show on this floor are..
THE SLEWING CRANE: The ropes powered by the winch hoist the load, while the orizontal screws move it horizontally.
THE HELICOPTER: The machine consists of a spiral of linen around a vertical shaft.There is no indication at all as to how the machine should rotate and rise in the air.
THE FLYING MACHINE: The apparatus rests on the aviator's shoulders and he lowers and raises the wings by moving his feet. The garland-like strap round his head is joined to the tail of the apparatus, while the lever for the rudder is around his neck.
THE TANK: A tank with a round base topped by a cone-shaped shell, with guns set out evenly around the outside. Inside toothed whells and cranks, moved manually, allow the tank to be driven in any direction.
THE LOOM: A somewhat unusual loom. In the top right-hand corner of the drawing is the wheel where the motion begins. Beneath is the intermediary wheel that enables the third one to turn in the same direction as the first. Along the top margin, going towards the left, are the treadles that raise and lower the threads of the warp. The first wheel appears again on the left of the sheet together with a buffer device. Beneath can be seen two shuttles, a bobbin and a spring.
THE SCREW-PRESS FOR OIL: The upper horizontal lever - curved on the right, with a counterweight on the left - turns the toothed wheel that acts as a nut thread to the vertical worm screw which pushes against the bags containing olives and crushes them.
THE VENTILATOR: A crank raises the counterweight to the desired height. This makes wheel A turn and its one hundred teeth engage the five spindles of the shaft of wheel B whose fifty teeth move the " ventilator " attached to parallel rods.
THE CLOCK MECHANISM: This device, used in clocks, is aimed to regulate the rotation of the mechanism at set slow or fast intervals. The drawing shows a front view of the apparatus. In the centre is a more complete perspective image ( the swing-wheel balance mechanism is shown at the top ), while the layout of the workings can be seen below.
On the first floor we can see the model of the crane designed by Brunelleschi for the construction of the dome of the Cathedral in Florence. We can enter four different rooms.
On this floor we can find inventions, machines and models such as... the “Spring-driven car”, the “Paddle Boat”, the “Articulated wing”, the “Floats for Walking on Water”, the “Driver’s Breathing Apparatus” and the “Parachute”.
THE SPRING-DRIVEN CAR: The car is one of Leonardo's ideas that people have been most taken with, even though its popularity is due more to the sheer imagination of those reconstructing it than to the original drawing, as indeed it is with this model by Giovanni Canestrini.
THE PADDLE-BOAT: None of Leonardo's drawings shows the whole boat but just some detail or other. The paddles or blades are moved by large man- operated cranks
THE ARTICULATED WING: An articulated wing with straps to attach it to the body and stays to move the wings.
THE FLOATS FOR WALKING ON WATER: This model substitutes inflated skins with wooden floats long enough and light enough to bear a man's weight. The two "sticks" held in the hands are aimed both to keep your balance and to help you move forward.
THE DIVER'S BREATHING APPARATUS: The bell-sheped breathing- apparatus floats on the surface, while two tubes are used to change the air for the diver. A valve regulates the flow of air and the bag underneath collects solids or liquids that may have arrived with the air.
THE PARACHUTE: The model is made with linen cloth, spruce wood and rope. The size is half that given by Leonardo.
THE BYCICLE= The drawing of this bicycle among Leonardo's papers was far too unexpected not to take scholars by surprise and raise a few queries. It came to light during restoration work on the Codex Atlanticus, after taking apart two sheet that had been pasted to mountings by Pompeo Leoni at the end of the 16th century.
The Optics Room is devoted to Leonardo’s interest in physical optics and in perspective in the twodimensional representation of threedimensional figures, while the Water Room shows Leonardo’s studied of water and river navigation.
The Bicycle Room houses the models of the self-propelling car. The Video Room is decorated with models of the solids drawn by Leonardo for the “De Divina Proportion” by Luca Pacioli. Here we can watch documentaries about the artist’s life and works .
Our visit ends with the Castle Tower. From its beautiful terrace we can enjoy a splendid view of the Tuscan landscape: the hills of Montalbano, small village and the Pisan Mountains. this landscape is very similar to the one depicted by Leonardo in his maps and drawings.
Our walking tour ends with “Piazza della Libertà”, where we can see the equestrian bronze monument carried out by the sculptor Nina Akamu. The statue is inspired by Leonardo’s “horse” especially the ones relating to the project for statue dedicated to Ruler of Milan Francesco Sforza.
In Vinci there is also “Leonardo Library”, which is an important centre for the study of the great artist and scientist, and “Leonardo Da Vinci’s Ideal Museum”, dealing with the complexity of the artist related to his biography and territory.
From the old town centre a scenic road or an ancient path with panoramic views, known as the “Green Road”, leads to Leonardo’s birthplace in Anchiano, a small village near Vinci.
The building is a typical 15th- century Tuscan farmhouse where Leonardo was born on 15th April 1452 and spent his childhood. The house was part of a small-holding owned by the Da Vinci Family from the end of the 15th century onwards. It is a small museum and it was restored in 1952 and 1986.
Inside the house there are some drawings depicting the Tuscan landscape and a map of the Arno Valley drawn by Leonardo.