In the summer of 1502, Cesare Borgia, who was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and was also known by the name of Duke of Valentinois (a title bestowed on him by the King of France, Louis XII), had just finished his re-conquest of Romagna, depriving the region of the last seignories who still dominated the region in the name of the Church. The astute and ruthless military leader now needed to consolidate his domain by building modern civil and military infrastructure. As firearms were now becoming commonplace, his castles and defensive structures also needed re-engineering. The first engineer engaged by Cesare Borgia in Romagna was probably one Francesco Spezante, who is remembered by the chronicler Giuliano Fantaguzzi as the man who, in August 1501, wanted to take the boats from Cesenatico to Cesena by building a sort of canal. But Spezante’s career in the service of Borgia came to an abrupt end in April 1502 when the engineer, in attempting to alter the course of the river, caused a tragedy with the death of several men. He was first imprisoned and then banished.
It was at that time that Cesare Borgia requested the intervention of Leonardo da Vinci. The two men had already met in Milan in 1499, after the King of France Louis XII had just conquered the city where Leonardo was in service at the court of Ludovico Sforza. After a brief period in Venice, where he had designed fortifications to keep out the Turks, Leonardo had then returned to Florence. He was awaiting an opportunity to present his skills as an artist – in the broadest, Renaissance sense of the word – to men of power who would fully appreciate them. Cesare Borgia appeared to be the right man at the right time, and so it was that in July 1502 we find Leonardo in the company of the Duke of Valentinois. However, his appointment was only made official in the letter of patent issued on 18 August of the same year. The letter – which was only discovered and published in 1792 – clearly sets out the task with which the Duke had entrusted Leonardo, who he called his “Architecto et Ingegnero Generale”: he was to “see, measure and properly estimate” in order to “consider fortresses and territories, which had to be adapted according to his judgement and the improvements needed”. The purpose of this commission was to identify and design the military and civil buildings that would consolidate Borgia’s seignory in Romagna and offer an effective defence against his many external and internal enemies. In addition to the precious evidence of the letter, it is only thanks to the Codex Leicester - the journal in which he kept notes and observations between 1498 and 1502 - that we can now learn about what Leonardo did during those few months travelling through Emilia-Romagna. Leonardo had his own very personal way of drawing and writing, and did not follow the order of the pages. During the year 1502, which was spent in the service of Cesare Borgia in Romagna, Leonardo filled his personal journal, the Manuscript L, almost entirely with his notes about fortifications, excavations, engineering problems, studies about the flight of birds, the motion of water, and arithmetical questions. The Manuscript L is now part of the 12 “manuscripts of France” that Napoleon Bonaparte ordered to be transferred from the Ambrosia library in Milan to the library in the Institut de France in Paris, in 1796.
Borgia’s enthusiasm is vividly described by the chronicler Fantaguzzi, who in September 1502 noted that “El duca a Imolla stava in festa e gratava el celo con le unghe, insatiabille de regno, e danzava in maschara e schoperto, fortunato, contento e di gran bona voglia; e volea fare a Cesena: palazo, canale, rota, studio, zecha, piaza in forteza, agrandare Cesena, fontana in piaza, duchessa, corte a Cesena, fare el porto Cesenatico et finalmente farse re de Toschana et poi imperator de Roma con castello santo Angello”. Cesena, which in all possibility was designated by Borgia as the seat of his court, had at that time the best opportunity to become the capital city that Romagna – ever a multi-centric region – had hitherto never had.
But the fortunes of Borgia, like those of the newborn Duchy of Romagna, were destined to fall as rapidly as they had ascended. Again it is Fantaguzzi who tells us that the Duke “non abiando bene ferma la rota, de’ volta e trabucollo col capo di sotta che prima”. Leonardo, whose grasp of the laws of nature was matched by his skill in interpreting political events, managed to disentangle himself from the fate of the Borgia in good time, leaving the Duchy only with studies and notes about projects and interventions that would probably have characterised the appearance of the cities he had studied.
And now, a look at the towns and cities of Romagna at the time of Leonardo da Vinci...
Rimini
Leonardo arrived in Rimini on 8 August 1502. The main focus of his attention was the ditch-digging machinery that he had already seen in the Marches. In Cesena, he refers to the method of work used by the “men of Rimini”, which involved removing earth during the alterations to the old defensive structures built by Sigismondo Malatesta.
In Rimini, Leonardo did more than just take notes on military concerns. His mind continued to wonder about other scientific and artistic considerations, not forgetting his great passion for musical instruments which led him to elaborate complex acoustic systems to be used for entertainment at court, or perhaps for military purposes, such as mechanical drums. Influenced by the movement of water in the Pigna fountain in Piazza Cavour, Leonardo proposed the idea of a sound-emitting device that would play a melody through different cascades of water: “Make a melody using different cascades of water, as you saw in Rimini the 8 August 1502”. Similar water-powered instruments were in vogue during the Renaissance, and in addition to the one mentioned above, there are other notes and designs of this kind to be found in Leonardo’s work, some of them also filtered from Vitruvius.
The fountain envisaged by Leonardo was not the one we see today, which is the result of a late 16th-century reconstruction. In reality, it was probably like the one sculpted in the bas-relief with the view of the city in Malatestian times, situated in the Chapel of the Planets in Rimini Cathedral, better known as the “Malatestian Temple”.
At the exhibition Leonardo, Machiavelli, Cesare Borgia held in Rimini in 2003, a reconstruction of Leonardo’s hydraulic organ was created by the architect Pier Luigi Foschi. It is now on display at the City Museum.
Rimini, Ponte Tiberio
Pennabilli
La Gioconda, also known as the Mona Lisa, is an oil painting on poplar wood.
This iconic, enigmatic and internationally famous painting is certainly the best-known portrait in history and is also one of the most celebrated works of art ever created. The almost imperceptible smile of the subject, shrouded in a mysterious aura, has inspired page after page of artistic criticism and literature.
Who was the Gioconda?
Leonardo was the mastermind behind one of the biggest mysteries in the history of art: the identity of the Mona Lisa. Tradition has it that her name was Monna Lisa, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy merchant from Florence who apparently commissioned the artist to paint the portrait. There are no documents to confirm this other than the voice of Vasari. The historian Roberto Zapperi has for many years investigated the true identity of the woman in da Vinci’s portrait, arriving at truly surprising conclusions. Everyone believes that she is Lisa Gherardini, wife of the merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Vasari has said so, and the academic world believes him. However, the literary scholar and humanist has not even seen the painting and his comments are based on vague, imprecise rumours. So why is it that Lisa Gherardini merited a portrait painted by the most famous artist of the 16th century? Zapperi, documents in hand, remains unconvinced by tradition and has formulated his own theory. Zapperi is a diehard, and has been throughout his career, which he spent working at the Enciclopedia Treccani. He is not fond of the world of academia and is much better known abroad (his favourite editor is German) than he is in Italy. The historian Roberto Zapperi has now demonstrated that the Leonardo’s mysterious woman has a very different identity: the woman in the portrait is in fact Pacifica Brandani, a noblewoman from Urbino and lover of Giuliano dei Medici, who was hosted at the Court of Urbino for more than a decade in the late 15th century. Their union resulted in the birth of Giuliano’s only son Ippolito, who would later become a Cardinal. Unfortunately, Pacifica died just two days after the baby was born and Giuliano would bring up his son in Rome. To console the infant, who continuously asked for his mother, he asked Leonardo to produce a portrait of her.
To understand who the woman in the painting really was, Zapperi asked himself a simple but necessary question: who really did ask Leonardo to paint this portrait? The documents spoke clearly: Giuliano de’ Medici, a cultured and sophisticated nobleman, who loved beautiful women and the high life. He was a friend of the artist, and during his time in Rome commissioned him to paint the portrait of a woman.
Giuliano de’ Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and brother of the future Pope Leo X, was a “vivacious child, fresh as a rose, kind, clean and bright as a mirror, cheerful and with a thoughtful gaze”. As he grew up, he developed a keen interest in culture and literature and in 1505, Elisabetta Gonzaga invited him to her court in Urbino. Other cultural figures at the court at that time included Pietro Bembo and Baldassarre Castiglione. Giuliano was a libertine and even at the court of Urbino, was always seeking out women for ‘entertainment’. According to Zapperi, one of the women he met during those years is the one behind the mysterious identity of the Mona Lisa.
Of all his many liaisons, there was one woman who captured his heart. Her name was Pacifica Brandani: she was not of the lower classes but wealthy, intelligent and perhaps a widow. She fell pregnant: Giuliano was not certain that he was the father, thinking it might be the “son of one Federico Ventura, his rival in the courtship of the gentlewoman”. After giving birth, his beloved Pacifica died. But just before taking her final breath, she claimed that the child was the son of Giuliano. The baby was given the name Pasqualino, and on 19 April 1511 he was taken, still in swaddling clothes, to the Chiesa di Santa Chiara de' Cortili (Convent of St Clare) in Urbino, which was closely linked to the court. The baby, tells the historian, “was wrapped in white cloth with a coin as a mark of identity”. Three days afterwards, he was entrusted to a wet nurse and to Bartolomeo di Giorgio.
But the city’s leading notary, Lorenzo Spaccioli, intervened and without heeding advice, cancelled the fostering arrangement and said that he himself would pay for the child’s upkeep for the next four years. But just a few months later, Giuliano de’ Medici knocked on his door and claimed the baby as his illegitimate son. As he did so, he chose another name for the baby: Ippolito. He then set off with the child for Rome, and the home of his elder brother, the future Pope Leo X. In Rome, Ippolito cried continually, seeking his mother; at least according to Zapperi's reconstruction which is also supported by authoritative scholars such as Augusto Gentili di Ca’ Foscari. He asked for her but nobody could console him. So Giuliano had an idea. He called Leonardo da Vinci, who was in his service, asking him to paint a picture to give to his son, in the image of his mother. The portrait was commissioned in order to give the baby a picture of the mother that he had never known. It is not known whether the portrait is real, or based on mere impressions. But Giuliano died before he could collect the painting, so the artist took it with him to France, where it can still be seen at the Louvre today. And so the much-hailed Lisa Gherardini makes way for Pacifica Brandani.
Professor Zapperi is convinced that his reconstruction is closer to the true story: “I have been working on this for years and have the advantage of being a historian. I read documents. Art is not my field. There are no testimonies about Monna Lisa, but as regards Pacifica, there is evidence from the Cardinal of Aragon, who tells us that it was a portrait painted for Giuliano de’ Medici”. So it would seem that the mystery about the woman’s identity has been revealed.
Mona Lisa ‘Observation Points’
From research into the backgrounds painted by Leonardo da Vinci and other artists, it appears that there is a general rule about using landscapes as backdrops for Renaissance portraits.
Each background has a specific relationship to the person depicted.
In the case of the Gioconda, if Monna Lisa had been Tuscan, she should have had a Florentine landscape behind her. Studies by Professor Zapperi, which confirm the theories put forward by Prof. Pedretti, already suggested as long ago as 1954 in the Vinciani Studies, identify the Gioconda as Pacifica Brandani and support the accuracy of the Borchia & Nesci theory (2012) on the relationship between landscape and portrait.
In light of their discovery, it would seem that behind Pacifica is an aerial view of Montefeltro, the native region of the young noblewoman Pacifica and her son Ippolito.
There are also other clues. Towards the northernmost boundary of the duchy was an island or Tuscan enclave, which from a geographical and political standpoint formed part of Montefeltro. Leonardo also introduced this strip of Tuscany, land of Giuliano de Medici, into the background of the painting. Again, this confirms the Borchia & Nesci theory, as the background matches the subject and also links the painting to the other two protagonists of this unusual story.
The landscape in the world’s most famous painting is certainly not easy to decipher, as it embraces a territory that stretches from Tuscany as far as Mount Conero: the entire duchy of Urbino.
Thanks to contributions from the regional government of Emilia-Romagna and the local development association Gal Montefeltro Sviluppo, two Observation Points have now been identified in Pennabilli (Rimini) and Montecopiolo (Pesaro-Urbino), respectively at Il Roccione and Monte Costagrande.
These two points of observation depict the right-hand side of the painting, in particular the first part at the bottom shows the area around the bridge over the river Marecchia and the town of Pennabilli.
Veduta di Pennabilli
Cesenatico
The origins of Cesenatico date back to 1302, when the Porto Canale was excavated and a castle was built to defend the town. ‘Porto Cesenatico’ (as the town was called until it achieved independence from Cesena in the early 19th century) was of great importance to Cesare Borgia, more for military than commercial reasons: its fortress represented a castle built to defend a stretch of coastline that was too close to Cesena, which at the time was a dangerous boundary, vulnerable to incursions by enemies, pirates and contagious diseases.
At “3 in the afternoon on 6 September 1502”, Leonardo was in Cesenatico, intent on designing the plan for the Porto Canale. Climbing the Malatesta tower on the outskirts of the town (part of the ancient fortress, of which some ruins still remain), he began to sketch the panoramic view of the little seaside village. There are just three explicit references to Cesenatico in Manuscript L: two designs, one of which is also dated, and a guidance note. In the perspective of “c. 68r”, which was clearly drawn from the summit of the keep of the mediaeval fortress built to defend the port, it is possible to make out a small three-arched bridge, located in a position corresponding to what was once called St Joseph’s bridge and in vernacular, the “Bridge of the Cat” (a reference to the castle standing near it), the few buildings on the banks (one of which is larger, perhaps a warehouse on the left side and another with an archway corresponding to the clock tower which collapsed in the earthquake of 1875), the curve of the canal, the two piers and the network of saline basins to left and right. Due to the gradual distancing from the coastline, the piers depicted by Leonardo were set much further back than they are today, at around the height of the "spur" just before Piazza Ciceruacchio, which is now indicated by a marker stone.
Access to the sea, which was extremely important to the merchants of Cesena, had to be resolved by solving the age-old problem of silting. Leonardo’s aim in visiting the site was presumably to make the port more efficient, by managing the tides in order to regulate the flow of seawater and keep the mouth of the canal clear.
He changed the direction and length of each palisade and expanded the connecting basins so that the seawater could enter and build up, only to then flow out again rapidly during low tide, keeping the entrance clear in doing so.
Water is a recurring theme in Leonardo’s scientific research, as he attempted to understand the true essence of the processes that generate natural phenomena.
He noted the impetuous force of water, which covers the largest part of the globe, arriving at the theory that the Earth’s surface will inevitably be submerged: “As seabeds are never-ending, in contrast with the tops of mountains, the Earth's surface will be submerged and therefore uninhabitable”.
But water is also a fascinating and symbolic element which we can see in many of his works or, as Giorgio Vasari has done, even glimpse in the expression on the face of the Mona Lisa: “her eyes had those twinkles and pools that can be seen in real life”.
The project was destined to remain on paper but the ‘Leonardesque’ Porto Canale at Cesenatico is today one of the most important monuments in the city. A walk along the canal allows you to appreciate the architectural beauty and warm atmosphere of this seaside town.
An essential port of call is the Museo Galleggiante della Marineria (Floating Maritime Museum), where you can see the old fishing boats used on the Upper Adriatic, now moored with their colourful sails bearing the symbols of fishing families. The museum’s ground floor houses a 3000 m² exhibition on these traditional boats reproduced by Leonardo in the famous Manuscript L.
At the Municipal Antiquarium, a new exhibit describes the two visits to Cesenatico, by Leonardo da Vinci and Giuseppe Garibaldi. Leonardo da Vinci visited the city to see the port on 6 September 1502, on the instructions of Cesare Borgia, as testified by the two famous drawings in the Manuscript L. Giuseppe Garibaldi was accompanied by Anita and two hundred followers, when on 2 August 1849 they embarked on a fleet of Adriatic trawlers in an attempt to reach Venice. These two occasions may be brief but are vitally important to the town’s collective memory and identity. Both visits are illustrated in a new section of the Municipal Antiquarium, the museum that houses the archaeological and historic records of Cesenatico and the surrounding area, situated in the former retirement home next to the Maritime Museum, to which it is connected internally.
The hall will also contain a display case with a reproduction of the Manuscript L and Leonardo’s drawings, while on the “Garibaldi side”, there will be a series of photographs and artefacts from the archives of Fadigati, donated by his grandson Maurizio Carati, giving a personal account of a woman who identified strongly with Giuseppe Garibaldi both idealistically and for family reasons.
Porto Canale Leonardesco di Cesenatico
Cesena
On 10 August 1502 Leonardo was already in the ducal city of Cesena, which Cesare Borgia had plans to expand and connect to the port of Cesenatico with a canal, making it a worthy seat for his Duchy. The Duke of Valentinois had many plans for Cesena: a ducal palace, a canal as far as Cesenatico (the fact that he says merely “canal” indicates that project was well-known), the court of law, university, the mint, and a barrack square. He also wanted to develop the city, build a fountain in the main square and bring the duchess to live there (his wife Charlotte d’Albret, who had remained in France), establish a court, carry out major works on the port at Cesenatico, which had already been excavated and in operation since the early part of the 14th century but now required maintenance work.
Leonardo stayed there for more than a month, probably until late autumn. During that time, he took detailed measurements of the Malatestian boundary wall, the fortifications on the Garampo hill and of other elements, out of curiosity about what he saw in Cesena and the surrounding area.
In Cesena, Leonardo’s first task was to study the defensive structures, which he did by taking a survey of the city walls, which we see in cc. extract 9v-10r of the Manuscript L, contained in the plan next to a table of measurements. These are preceded by another brief survey mentioned in extract c. 9r, according to the model already envisaged for the walls of Urbino.
To discover the ancient walls of Cesena, we start at Porta Fiume, the western point of access to the town. It already existed in the 12th century but its current form dates back to 1491. This is the only surviving watchtower of the two which were positioned at the outermost points of the San Martino bridge, which crossed the river Savio. On the tower, it is still possible to see the Ghibelline merlons, embrasures and cannon loops.
From Porta Fiume we then follow the perimeter northwards along Porta Fiume, towards Via Mura Federico Comandini, on the walls behind the Serravalle Gardens. The towers dotted along the walls still bear the marks of the arcades and elevated walkway that linked them together. In 1502, this section was designed by Leonardo da Vinci together with the rest of the fortified perimeter in order to adapt the defensive walls to the use of heavy firearms.
We then come to Porta Trova (now demolished) and continue on towards Barriera Cavour, formerly Porta Cervese (facing the direction of Cervia). Here, in the floor below what is now a cafeteria, it is possible to see the remains of the eastern branch of the outer defence walls.
Continuing eastwards along the walls, we come to the Savelli Gardens, now an attractive venue for outdoor concerts and drinks in summer, and the polygonal Beloxurum Tower, built on the Malatestian walls in 1452.
A short distance away is Porta Santi, also known as Porta Romana because of its position along the road to Rome. This archway is first mentioned in the 14th century. It was restructured during the mid-15th century and in 1819 ‘monumentalized’, in its current form, based on a design by the architect Curzio Brunelli in honour of Pope Pius VII, as testified by the inscription and emblems.
Leaving behind the public gardens on the right-hand side and walking along the southern walls, we come to the Portaccia, which is a river gate erected to defend the entrance to the city from the river Cesuola. Traces of the embrasures can still be seen today on both buildings, which were once joined by a barrel vault from which the portcullis was dropped. Here again, we can imagine Leonardo da Vinci in the early 16th century, taking surveys and measurements to determine the exact dimensions.
From the Portaccia, it is well worth entering the historic centre of Cesena, to see the splendid Piazza del Popolo. In addition to the Albornoz Palace, home to the council offices, and the Masini Fountain, a fine example of late Mannerist / proto-Baroque architecture, the piazza is also home to the brick curtain wall known as the Rocchetta di Piazza. The building comprises the Loggetta Veneziana, a polygonal tower designed by architect Matteo Nuti, and the walls with the walkway above, which joined the tower to the Malatestian Fortress.
Walking under the archway - formerly Porta dei Leoni or Lions’ Gate – we come to a stepped road leading to Piazzetta Cesenati (1377) and extending into Via Malatesta Novello, a steep road leading to Porta Montanara (immortalised in the words of the great writer Renato Serra, and now engraved on a plaque next to the arch), and the ruins of the Old Fortress, called the Barbarossa. From here, the route follows Via Cia degli Ordelaffi, flanking the Spheristerium, and reaches the portal to the Malatestian Fortress, whose interior is well worth a visit. Some of the drawings in the Manuscript L indicate that Leonardo was very interested in the fortifications of Cesena, starting with its fortress, which is clearly identified in the sketch in excerpt c. 15v, with its twisting entrance ramps and the words “rocca di Cesena”.
It is quite incredible that Leonardo made not the slightest mention of the Malatestian Library, which he will certainly have visited and perhaps even read books there—particularly because he had also wanted to take notes about the “library” of Pesaro.
No visit to Cesena is complete without a trip by car, motorbike or even bicycle, to Villa Silvia-Carducci, set amongst the hills between Cesena and Bertinoro in the area of Lizzano. Here we find the remarkable Museum of Musicalia, which contains one of the very first examples of mechanical musical instruments in history: Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical drum. Designed for practical and military purposes, the device was mounted on large wheels and activated with a handle. Its intended purpose was to set the beat for the soldiers as they marched, replacing the need for real-life drummer boys. The example kept at this Museum was built from Leonardo’s original drawings.
The winding Savio river and plans for the Cesenatico canal
In the Manuscript L, we also find traces of Leonardo’s possible (or probable) involvement in major public works, primarily the straightening of the course of the river Savio. In the excerpt c. 36v, together with the date “mezz’agosto” (mid-August), we find a drawing of a river bend, and a pen stroke that would seem to indicate a correction; the same occurs in c. 32v, where there are also notes about the water course and the complex curves of rivers; river bends also seem to appear at c. 71v.
On 15 August “the mid-August holy day, Cesena, 1502”, Leonardo da Vinci not only noted down details of a fortress at Cesena and made a drawing of a pulley, but there is also a note to the side of a river bend, concerning the behaviour of water: “The lesser the curvature of the riverbank where the river drops, the further the second drop will be from the place where the first originated.”
Leonardo’s reflections are borne out by a tragic event that occurred in the river Savio shortly before he arrived in Cesena, as reported by the local chronicler Giuliano Fantaguzzi. It is reported that six people perished in a stretch of the river on which an untrained engineer was carrying out excavations to divert the water course, close to the village of Martorano.
Leonardo’s study is not limited to investigations into the behaviour of fluids or the constructions of systems to regulate the flow of water and the channelling of rivers. His observation of natural phenomena also drove him to reflect on the nature of men, by comparing the flow of life to that of a river.
“The river water you touch is the last of the water that has just passed and the first of the incoming water. So is it with the present time”.
With these words, Leonardo intends that at a certain point in a course of water, the ‘before’ can coincide with the ‘after’. Every ending is also a beginning, in the same way as Time is for Man, who by taking control of his past through his memories can project past experience towards the future.
Cesare Borgia’s “to-do list” in Cesena also included a “canal”. This is borne out by another letter, which reports that “the duke’s engineer wanted to take the boats from Cesenatico to Cesena”. It is all too tempting to identify the “Duke’s engineer” as Leonardo, but there is a problem: that letter is dated 1501, when Leonardo was in Florence. The engineer Spezante was still in Cesena at that time, before causing the tragedy on the river Savio early in the following year. However, because of his commitment to continue the works on the river bend, it is still possible that Leonardo may have had a similar interest in the canal project, which was much more deserving of his attentions in view of his expertise, experience and motivation in matters of water. Many scholars of Leonardo da Vinci support the theory that the many notes about earthworks and the drawings of machines in the Manuscript L and other manuscripts are linked to the canal project. They have reached the conclusion that Leonardo did in fact dedicate much of his time in Romagna to this project.
We could think of the project to take a canal from Cesena to the sea as a major enterprise – and it certainly was, in economic and organisational terms. But it was not all that remarkable: it has always been normal to send goods by water (and still is today, on longer routes). All of the principal cities on the Po plain had ports and canals. A viable canal from Cesena to Porto Cesenatico – of similar dimensions to other comparable routes such as the Navile in Bologna, which are no more than a few metres wide, enough to allow animals to pull the boats on towpaths – was relatively easy to achieve, thanks to the short distance and lack of natural obstacles, without having to tackle the crossing of rivers or other canals, and perhaps taking advantage of their course. The main problem as we can see from Leonardo’s notes, highlighted by the two scholars, was to find the most effective way of excavating and moving the soil.
Cesena, Piazza del Popolo
Sogliano al Rubicone
The little museum in Sogliano al Rubicone in the Province of Cesena is dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci. Its purpose is to illustrate the local traditions and characteristics of the area, through the observations and studies of this extraordinary man of engineering.
The museum has two sections: one scientific and one ethnographic.
The scientific section contains displays of manuscripts, studies, drawings and notes, and Leonardo’s studies in physics, mechanics and hydraulics during his stay in Romagna. These exhibits illustrate the surveys of the urban and fortified structures that Leonardo intended to modernise. They show us the customs and habits of the people of Romagna, and the technological devices used during that period.
The ethnographic section displays information about the habits and customs of ordinary people in the 16th century, with particular reference to the theme of water, sound and nature. Here we can see the models and images of the “hollows” created in the park of San Donato.
In addition to the museum, Sogliano also has a Leonardo Trail, an itinerary of 7 km which takes visitors on a discovery of the surrounding area and the valuable works left by this remarkable artist.
The last leg of the Trail takes you to the Vitruvian Man, based on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, before the entrance to Sogliano al Rubicone.
In the same municipality, in the nearby district of Vignola, two “hollows” have been created (in the public park of San Donato), based on the observations made by Leonardo about a system to amplify the sound emitted by the horns used by shepherds in the region, to communicate the distance between them.
Cotignola
The adventures of the Attendolo family, wealthy farmers from Cotignola, start with Giacomo, a military leader and captain, and the Count of Cotignola nicknamed Muzio Attendolo Sforza. The story continues with his son Francesco I Sforza, also a military leader, who in 1450 would become the Duke of Milan.
Francesco I Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria Visconti, the legitimate daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti, the last Duke of Milan from the Visconti line, introduced major economic and agricultural reforms, also carrying out major improvements to the city, which would then become the luxurious ducal palace of their son Ludovico Maria Sforza, known as “Il Moro”.
Ludovico Sforza’s ties with his birthplace were manifested in 1495, when Cotignola was given city status.
Leonardo da Vinci began much of his work as an artist and scientist after he arrived at the court of Ludovico Sforza in 1482. These studies continued almost without interruption until 1499, when the political instability caused by the French King Louis XII after the Duchy of Milan was defeated, forced him to leave the city and interrupt his research. Leonardo’s comment on Ludovico Sforza leaves no room for doubt: “The Duke [has] lost his duchy, his things and the liberty, and none of his works will be finished for him”.
During his time at the Milanese court, the illustrious scholar was busy working as an advisor on architectural and hydraulic projects, canal building, designing machines, equestrian monuments and completing pictorial masterpieces such as the Vergine delle Rocce (Virgin of the Rocks), the Lady with an Ermine, the Belle Ferronnière and the world-famous Last Supper.
In the central lunette of the Cenacle, Leonardo alludes to this little town in Romagna, by including in a festoon a cluster of quinces, the symbol of the Sforza family, a reference to the “Pomo cotogno” on the crest of Muzio Attendolo and the emblem of the town of Cotignola where Muzio was born.
Cotignola, Chiesa del Suffragio
Faenza
Faenza put up a strong defence against Borgia, who launched an attack in November 1500 but was thwarted by the heavy snow and cold weather throughout that winter, only managing to defeat the city in April 1501. It is possible that Leonardo also spent some time in Faenza, perhaps during the period between his departure from Cesenatico and his arrival in Imola. His notebook contains details of the distances between the cities along the Via Emilia, including this note “Faenza sta con Imola tra levante e scirocco in mezzo giusto a 10 miglia di spazio.” This confirms part of the extensive studies that Leonardo da Vinci made across the whole region of Romagna, which led him to create a magnificent geographical map containing details of the region. The map is now kept at the Royal Academy of London, in Windsor.
However, it appears that Leonardo left only this single mention of the Manfredian city, until in 1969 Antonio Savioli found new evidence to support the theory - now generally accepted - that the drawing at the top right of c. 15v is the cathedral of Faenza. The sketch denotes Leonardo’s constant attention to architectural matters, both civil and military (or in this case ecclesiastical), where perhaps it is possible to see a reference to the Cathedral then under construction in Faenza to a design by the architect Giuliano da Maiano.
An indirect and perhaps more significant reference – as it testifies to the importance of his ceramics even at that time – can also be found in the geological observations in the Codex Leicester (described below), in which Leonardo mentions clay: “terra da far boccali” and“terra da far vasi” from the “Val di Lamona”, in other words the river Lamone. Leonardo visited the hills of Romagna and, while travelling up the Lamone valley, had an opportunity to see at first hand this soil, the “terra da fare boccali”, used by the renowned ceramics manufacturers of Faenza. It is no coincidence that word used worldwide to indicate maiolica is faïence, a French word derived from the name of the city that invented this form of ceramic production. Faenza itself has an international ceramics museum (MIC – Il Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche) which contains the world’s largest existing collection of this ancient art. In his discourse on geology, natural phenomena and land formations, Leonardo refers to the boccali (tankards or pitchers) made from the “terre azzurrine” in the seignory governed by the House of Manfredi before it fell to the Borgia family.
Another reference to Romagna can be found in the next excerpt, no. 10 recto, which mentions the argillaceous landscape traversed by ravines (see the ravines of the Romagna Chalk Vein), which are characteristic of the Lamone valley. Reference is also made to the production of ceramics, specifically pitchers or tankards, in Faenza. Finally, if we compare the excerpt 36 recto with the previous ones, we can see that Leonardo already understood the concept of stratigraphy and was well able to recognise three types of rock formation: Marnoso (arenaceous and chalky); Gessoso - sulphur-bearing, blue clay and the alluvial soil found in the foothills, which he named, respectively, "falde dalle pietre vive", "azzurrigno terren di mare" and "terra comune". Alongside the final note, 36 recto, there is a stratigraphic sketch. The particular geology of the lower Apennine area around Faenza, which is traversed by the Lamone River, was observed and described by Leonardo thus: “… e il segnio di ciò si vede dove per antico li Monti Appennini versano li lor fiumi nel mare Adriatico, li quali in gran parte mostrano infra li monti gran somma di nichi insieme coll’azzurrigno terren di mare”, “… e nel congiungersi colle pianure, le predette falde son tutte di terra da fare boccali, come si dimostrano, in Val di Lamona, fare al fiume Lamona…”.
The naturally-occurring amphitheatres of blue clay soil, found between Brisighella and Riolo Terme are well worth a visit, and have made the beautiful ceramic production of Faenza famous worldwide. Clay is the primary material used in the production of ceramics used for domestic objects, the tiles made in the historic artisanal workshops of Faenza, for construction materials (tiles and bricks) and in new technologies. Modern-day geologists interpret the rocks and fossils referred to by Leonardo as ‘nichi’, as marking the end of the Messinian salinity crisis: the 700,000 years during which the waters of the Mediterranean remained separate from the Atlantic Ocean and became gradually more concentrated. The reopening of the Gibraltar Strait and the catastrophic flooding of the Mediterranean, which occurred around 5.3 million years ago, marked the beginning of the Pliocene era and saw the rapid repopulation of marine organisms to a fairly deep level in the Mediterranean, which returned to normal salinity. The large expanse of the Po plain, which formed at the end of the Miocene epoch, was re-occupied by the sea and transformed into a large gulf, bordered to the north by the Alps and to the south-south-west by the parts of the Apennine mountain chain that were now above ground. The deposits of blue clay indicate that an ancient bed of sludge once covered much of the Po plain and what is now the Lower Apennines of Romagna, from that time until the end of the Inferior Pleistocene (just under a million years ago). The deposits of yellow sand are the remains of the fossil beaches marking the edge of the mainland, which at that time was home to species including hippopotamus, elephant, rhinoceros and the first hominids. The hills of Romagna still show the oldest documented traces of human activity in Italy, such as lithic industries from 950,000 years ago, dating back to the Inferior Paleolithic period.
Castel Bolognese
When the castle, which took the name Castel Bolognese, was built in 1389 by the Senate of Bologna, it was equipped with robust walls and a portal as well as a moat. The initial complex was later enlarged and corresponds to the existing route along Via Roma, Via Antolini, Piazza Fanti, Piazza Bernardi (site of the tower of Giovanni da Siena, which served as a portal), Via Ginnasi and Piazzale Poggi. The dimensions of the castle were 125 x 222 m, with a perimeter of approximately 700 m. It stood approximately 90 m from Via Emilia. The community that settled in the castle soon grew into a village, built just behind the entrance portal. To defend these homes, the walls were expanded in 1425 and also enclosed a section of Via Emilia. The castle, which had by now lost its defensive function, became an outpost of Bologna and a walled city. Its dimensions were 222 x 310 m, giving a perimeter of approximately 1100 m. There were two points of entry, both accessible to horses, along Via Emilia, one facing Faenza and the other Imola. Corner towers were built, and the fortress erected by Antonio di Vincenzo in 1391 was reinforced. The section of wall of the old castle which had remained inside the new outer curtain was demolished, while the bridge to the old portal and the moat were covered over. It is said that in 1434, the citizens of Bologna decided to reinforce the new castle. However a document found in the notarial archives of Faenza shows that these works took place almost fifty years later. In a contract of 23 August 1481, one Rinaldo Quarneti sold to ‘Pietro di Milano’ a pile of rubble and 600 buckets of lime to build the new fortress at Castel Bolognese, and a certain Giovanni Pallantieri also sold the same Pietro 20,000 bricks and another 200 buckets of lime. The mysterious drawing of the repair works carried out at Castel Bolognese may date back to that time. The drawing is kept in the State archives in Bologna; some experts have attributed it to Leonardo da Vinci, who is said to have stayed here while in the service of Cesare Borgia, who unleashed his first violent attack on the city walls in 1501. The Duke of Valentinois razed the castle and the walls to the ground, ordered the moat around the perimeter to be filled in and gave orders that the area was no longer to be known as Castel Bolognese, but as Villa Cesarina. Following the demise of Borgia, the walls and towers were restored and rebuilt from 1506 onwards. Other restoration works were completed on the city walls in 1582, 1585 and 1601. The towers and walls, which no longer had a defensive role, were turned over to other uses such as homes, master walls for houses or boundary walls. Thus began the slow decline of the city’s defensive system.
In 1865, the municipal council decided to demolish the portal—the work was completed in 1876, with the justification that it was necessary to expand the main street to make access easier. The demolition of the walls continued in 1896-97, when they were all reduced to the height of 1 m, apart from the section to the north. Amid all this demolition, the only restoration works of note were those carried out in 1983 by the Superintendency of Ravenna and the Municipality of Castel Bolognese, on the tower and stretch of wall in front of the hospital. Private landowners can also be credited with a number of restoration projects including work to the castle keep, at the north-east, the remains of the fortress and sections of the wall. In Via Pallantieri, the walls are now being unearthed, while restoration work is also to be done on the south-western tower (also privately owned). This is the oldest tower in the perimeter wall, dating back to the earliest construction in the 14th century.
Imola
Leonardo da Vinci was in Imola during the autumn of 1502, until the end of December. The city at the time was a military camp, where men and arms had assembled as part of the Duke of Valentinois’ plan to attack the regions of the Marches, Umbria and Tuscany. The Duke felt safe in Imola, protected by a fortress as impressive as the Sforza Castle. Although he had chosen Cesena as the capital of the duchy and seat of his court, Imola was its military counterpart, as can be seen from the above excerpt from the Manuscript L, in which Imola is used as a point of reference for distancing and orientation from the other towns in Romagna. The comparison of the distances between Imola and the other cities of Romagna, which Leonardo indicates in the margins of his map of Imola and also refers to in the Manuscript L, demonstrates his rigorous draftsmanship and the level of detail he used in preparing maps designed to assure the military defence of the region. From this perspective, the fortress was fundamentally important to the defence of the city. A document kept in Windsor contains no fewer than three references, with some variations, evidencing Leonardo’s careful study of the fortress. The ancient medieval defensive structure of the fortress underwent modernisation from 1471 onwards, after Imola passed to the Sforza seignory. During the conquest by Cesare Borgia in November 1499, the fortress suffered extensive damage. Leonardo also designed improvements to the building, but unfortunately they were never carried out. He also analysed the city’s urban landscape. In Leonardo’s map of Imola, the fortress stands out for the accuracy of its reproduction, which corresponds to the current condition: the corner towers, the two ravelins with their bridges, and even the smaller building in the Soccorso courtyard.
But the principal documentary link between Imola and Leonardo is not the Manuscript L; instead, it is the famous map of the city kept in the Royal Library at Windsor— a remarkable work of extraordinary cartographic and artistic value. The map of Imola is above all the most valid testimony and confirmation that Leonardo was focused on giving a precise representation of the cartography of the cities and territory of the Duchy of Cesare Borgia, the preliminary phases of which are already clear from the surveys in the Manuscript L that make reference to Urbino, Cesena and Cesenatico. Leonardo dedicated himself to giving a bird’s-eye view of the urban layout, using a thoroughly modern technique of placing the city into a circle, divided into eight segments corresponding to the points of the compass. The city is divided into quarters, and the drawing defines the blocks of buildings, the perimeter of each edifice and the landscaped areas with meticulous care. Noteworthy points are the perimeter walls, the portals of the city and the castle’s fundamental purpose as a defensive stronghold. The map goes beyond its strictly military and cognitive purpose to include a focus on the geology of the landscape. The elegant bend of the river, which almost washes the boundary of the city, denotes the artistic vein of the hand that outlined in blue the course of the river.
Imola, pianta di Leonardo