VINCI
Leonardo's Home Town

The Castle

Through the centuries, the original structure of the Conti Guidi Castle underwent various alterations by its numerous proprietors. It was returned to the borough of Vinci by Count Julius Masetti da Bagnano, in 1919, for the restoration of the Leonardo Museum. The museum, which dates back to 1953, was composed of a series of machines inspired by Leonardo.

In the new arrangement, the models have been inserted in a larger, more comprehensive exhibition and are accompanied by descriptive notes. The series of reconstructions using real dimensions compares Leonardo's designs in relation to movement on land, sea and air to analogous mechanisms thought up by technicians and inventors before, during and after Leonardo's lifetime.

The Conti Guidi Castle is commonly referred to as "The Ship's Castle", due to its long shape and tower which recall the outline of a sailing-boat. Here you can also find the frescoes and sculptures of the various coats of arms, which evoke the former podestà, and Giovanni della Robbia's splendid ceramic, "The Madonna and Child".

"The Man from Vinci", a large wooden sculpture by Mario Ceroli, inspired by Leonardo's Vitruvian man, was erected in the square opposite the castle in 1987.

Near the Conti Guidi Castle lies Santa Croce Parish Church. It is filled with relics of great local historical interest and is of Romanesque origin with various modifications; the bell tower dates back to 1852, the interior and façade to 1929, the new baptistry to 1952, containing the salvaged baptismal font where, according to tradition, Leonardo was christened.