Leonardo is one of the best kown genius of the Italian Renaissance. He was born in a small hamlet near Vinci, a town not far from Florence on the slopes of the Montalbano.

Vinci's most important attraction is the Leonardo Museum, one of the largest and most original collections of machines and models designed by Leonardo the inventor, the technologist and the engineer. 

Following a series of major changes – begun in 2004 with the opening of the new museum area in Palazzina Uzielli and the subsequent inauguration of Piazza de’ Guidi, designed by Mimmo Paladino and from where the new entrance to the museum is accessed – the plans for the renovation of the Leonardo Museum come to completion with the reopening of the Conti Guidi Castle and the updated visitors’ route, which has been made fully accessible.

These works  involved both the architectural renovation of the ancient Conti Guidi Castle and changes to the museum’s presentation of the Leonardo collection.

The imposing mediaeval fortress in the centre of the town of Vinci, which since 1953 had been the original home of the Leonardo Museum, has undergone major renovation work, it has been possible to eliminate architectural barriers and bring the rooms up to the standards of large international museums.

Following extraordinary maintenance work on the roof of the castle, the project required the installation of a lift in the hollow of the walls which would connect the ground floor level with the two floors of the castle where the most part of the museum is housed.

Thus the Castle becomes accessible from the easy entrance opened off piazza Guido Masi and it is ready to host prestigious exhibitions, thanks to the installation of modern systems, in line with the largest museum sites.

Now the restoration work on the Conti Guidi Castle is finished, the structural work will move on to the tall mediaeval tower which rises skywards from the main body of the castle. For centuries an observation and control post, the top of the tower boasts a panoramic terrace with spectacular views: on one hand to Montalbano, its flanks covered with woods and olive groves, on the other onto the characteristic Tuscan landscape of mediaeval hilltop villages immortalized by so many mediaeval and Renaissance paintings, as well as the skyline of the Pisan hills which Leonardo depicted so accurately on many occasions in the Madrid II Codex and other manuscripts.

Once it is equipped with suitable viewing apparatus, the terrace will become the perfect spot for an original sightseeing activity over the Tuscan landscape and a night-time astronomical observation point. A memorable “bird’s-eye experience” after visiting the Museum.

The classic machine collection is expanded with new sections and enhanced by an even more rigorous, comprehensible and contextual presentation of Leonardo’s studies in the Renaissance period. The aim of the Museum, which complements the reconstructions of models with 3D digital animation and interactive applications, is to offer an in-depth view not only of Leonardo’s mechanical technology, but also of his studies of scientific-technical areas, of architecture and  of civil engineering.

And not only those of Leonardo, but also of artists, architects and engineers who were his contemporaries, so as to afford a more accurate historical presentation of the debts, merits and originality of the ‘Genius’ from Vinci.

The project, overseen and realised by the Leonardo Museum management, availed itself of the close cooperation of historians (of technical design, science and architecture) and engineers and digital modelling technicians, as well as Italian and international research institutes and university departments, including the vital contribution from the Department of Mechanics and Industrial Technologies of Florence.

The exhibition route starts in PALAZZINA UZIELLI with the sections on building machines, textile manufacturing machines and mechanical clocks, continuing in the nearby CONTI GUIDI CASTLE, which houses most of the new arrangements of exhibits.

The model of the large beating wing acts as a frame to the section on flight, housed in the Gallery together with the most famous models from Leonardo’s mechanical studies, such as the flying machine, also shown in the mechanically-propelled version, the study of a wing and the very famous aerial screw which is considered the prototype of the modern helicopter.

 The visitor then comes to the model of Leonardo’s bicycle; in the same room as the bicycle the model of the self-propelling cart is on show, a self-moving cart powered by a spring mechanism and known as “Leonardo’s cart”.

The optics room documents Leonardo’s interest in physical optics and the studies he undertook to resolve problems relating to pictorial representation of three-dimensional figures.  Among the exhibits in this room are Leonardo’s experiments on the phenomena of refraction and reflection, on the use of glass “lentils” to improve sight and also a camera obscura where one can experience the inversion of the projected image.

The visitor route comes to an end in the Water room, in which Leonardo’s studies on the movement of water are documented, with particular reference to navigation of rivers. Indeed, river navigation was one of the major means of transport during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

www.museoleonardiano.it

Info
Ufficio Turistico Intercomunale (inter-municipality tourist office)
Tel.0571 568012 – terredelrinascimento@comune.vinci.fi.it