Vinci

Vinci, Leonardo da: see Leonardo da Vinci.

(born April 15, 1452, Anchiano, Republic of Florence—died May 2, 1519, Cloux, France) Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, draftsman, architect, engineer, and scientist. The son of a landowner and a peasant, he received training in painting, sculpture, and mechanical arts as an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1482, having made a name for himself in Florence, he entered the service of the duke of Milan as “painter and engineer.” In Milan his artistic and creative genius unfolded. About 1490 he began his project of writing treatises on the “science of painting,” architecture, mechanics, and anatomy. His theories were based on the belief that the painter, with his powers of perception and ability to pictorialize his observations, was uniquely qualified to probe nature's secrets. His numerous surviving manuscripts are noted for being written in a backward script that requires a mirror to be read. In 1502–03, as military architect and engineer for Cesare Borgia, he helped lay the groundwork for modern cartography. After five years of painting and scientific study back in Florence (1503–08), he returned to Milan, where his scientific work flourished. In 1516, after an interlude under Medici patronage in Rome, he entered the service of Francis I of France; he never returned to Italy. Though only some 17 completed paintings survive, they are universally seen as masterpieces. The power of The Last Supper (1495–97) comes in part from its masterly composition. In the Mona Lisa (circa 1503–06) the features and symbolic overtones of the subject achieve a complete synthesis. The unique fame that Leonardo enjoyed in his lifetime and that, filtered by historical criticism, has remained undimmed to the present day rests largely on his unlimited desire for knowledge, a trait that guided all his thinking and behaviour.

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Vinci is a town and comune of Firenze province in the Italian region of Tuscany. The birthplace of Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci lies just outside the town.

Geography

The town is surrounded by the Tuscan Hills. The landscape consists of vineyards and olive groves that are much the same as in Leonardo's time.

History

Vinci was founded around the year 444ad. The Hut of Vinci was built by Cotton Head, and the original nucleus of the hut is a roof. In the second half of XII century, Vinci passed under the jurisdiction of Florence, and the Head's family sold the hut only to repurchase it in 449ad. After 200 years, Head's family sold the hut to Florence for good.

Leonardo

Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452, in a farmhouse about from the town, between Anchiano and Faltognano. His full name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", which means "Leonardo, son of Piero, from Vinci". Half a million visitors a year come to visit the Museum of Leonardo and his birthplace.

Main Sights

Museo Leonardiano-museum on Leonardo da Vinci. This museum has displays of some of the inventions that are drawn in da Vinci's notebooks.

Casa di Leonardo-This is the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci. It is a farmhouse. The Casa di Leonardo is not overwhelming and there are some reproductions of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings at the house.

Sister city

Vinci has an official sister city as designated by Sister Cities International:

• Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States.

External links

• Description of Anchiano