Discover where the genius of Leonardo da Vinci started

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Rates

Tour € 200–€ 540

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Duration 3 hours

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About

Our tour focuses primarily on the Florentine life and early works of this Renaissance artist, scientist and engineer, one of the greatest examples of the union between humanism and science. In 1468 his family moved from the little town of Vinci to Florence, and his father decided to send him to study with the most sought after Florentine master of the time: Andrea Verrocchio, Leonardo was part of this influential milieu until the age of 24. Leonardo’s fascination with machines probably began during his boyhood: as an apprentice Leonardo used a variety of machines and he gained practical knowledge about their design and structure.

Our tour starts from the LEONARDO’S MACHINERIES MUSEUM The original nucleus of this museum is an ample collection of models of machines which were reconstructed rigorously following Leonardo’s drawings: during his youth he developed his habit of recording his studies in meticulously illustrated notebooks and his talents as an illustrator allowed him to draw his mechanical ideas with exceptional clarity. These studies and sketches were collected into various codices and manuscripts, which are now hungrily collected (Bill Gates recently plunked down $30 million for the Codex Leicester!). Leonardo’s investigations into the nature of phenomena were central to his life and he produced a study on loads of subjects, including nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, anatomy, canals and architecture.

His studies from this period contain designs for advanced Military Machines, including a tank and other war vehicles, various combat devices, and submarines, cannons, gun powder missiles and the battleship. Leonardo’s designs for Civil Machines includes the robot, parachute, flying machines, the horseless carriage, a wind meter, a spinner machine, a printing press, a coin stamping machine and other. Many of Leonardo’s civil machines were labour-saving devices and these included a number of cranes and devices to ease the problems of lifting, probably designed with quarrying in mind, and they allow huge blocks of stone to be shifted quickly and with relative ease. The majority of his ideas were rediscovered centuries after his death. We will finish our tour inside the most important Italian painting Museum: The UFFIZI, where we can understand his peculiar painting technique in his early works, including the famous Annunciation. This museum boasts also and the best existing copy of a lost masterpiece: Leda and the Swan and the Master’s portrait.

This above is a suggested itinerary only, if you wish to exclude some site or include others, please feel free to tell us.