Few figures in history have left such a lasting imprint on both art and science as Leonardo da Vinci. Painter, engineer, anatomist, dreamer — he was a man whose curiosity reshaped the way we see the world. But Leonardo wasn’t just a mind; he was a traveler. His life was a series of creative migrations across Renaissance Italy and beyond, each city leaving its mark on his genius. To trace his footsteps today is to journey through the heart of Europe’s cultural soul — from Florence’s golden light to the canals of Milan, and finally, to the quiet French countryside where his story ended.
Leonardo was born in 1452 in Vinci, a small Tuscan town surrounded by olive groves and rolling hills. It’s the perfect place to start your journey. Visit the Museo Leonardiano, housed in a medieval castle, where models of Leonardo’s inventions bring his mechanical imagination to life. Just down the road, the Casa Natale di Leonardo, his reconstructed birthplace, offers a glimpse into the humble beginnings of a universal mind.
From Vinci, it’s an easy drive to Florence, the city that shaped Leonardo’s early years. Here, as a young apprentice in Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop, he learned to blend science and art — dissecting perspective, light, and anatomy with an intensity that would define his career. At the Uffizi Gallery, you can see his early masterpiece, Annunciation, glowing with the quiet perfection that would later lead to The Last Supper. For a more personal connection, visit the Palazzo Vecchio, where he studied military engineering and urban design, or wander the narrow streets near Ponte Vecchio, where artists and craftsmen still echo the creative energy of Leonardo’s Florence. The city remains a living studio — elegant, chaotic, endlessly inspiring.
When Leonardo moved to Milan in the 1480s, he reinvented himself as more than an artist — he became an engineer, stage designer, and visionary. His time here produced some of his greatest works, including The Last Supper, housed in Santa Maria delle Grazie. Standing before it today, you feel time slow. The fresco is fragile, yet alive — every gesture and expression perfectly measured, every shadow a meditation on mortality and faith. Just a few blocks away, the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology celebrates his insatiable curiosity. You’ll find models of his flying machines, hydraulic pumps, and anatomical studies — each a bridge between imagination and invention.
In Castello Sforzesco, where Leonardo worked for Duke Ludovico Sforza, you can still see his Sala delle Asse, a room he decorated with intricate drawings of intertwined trees — a canopy of creativity preserved for centuries. Step outside to the Navigli District, where Leonardo designed parts of the canal system that still flows today. It’s the perfect place to unwind with a glass of Lombard wine, reflecting on how seamlessly he wove beauty and practicality together.
In 1513, Leonardo arrived in Rome at the invitation of the Medici family. But while Michelangelo and Raphael were at the height of their fame, Leonardo’s interests had shifted from painting to scientific exploration. He dissected cadavers, studied optics, and sketched plans for machines that anticipated modern engineering.
Though little survives of his Roman period, walking through the Vatican Museums — filled with works by his rivals and contemporaries — gives you a sense of the world Leonardo inhabited. The tension between art and faith, innovation and tradition, still lingers in those halls.
Leonardo’s last journey took him north, across the Alps, to Amboise in France, invited by King Francis I, who admired him deeply. Here, in the Château du Clos Lucé, Leonardo spent his final years surrounded by his notebooks and models, working on projects that merged art, science, and philosophy. The château remains a living museum — not just of objects, but of ideas. Its rooms are filled with interactive exhibits of Leonardo’s inventions, and its gardens are planted to reflect his studies of botany and geometry. A short walk away lies Château d’Amboise, where Leonardo is buried in the small Chapel of Saint-Hubert. It’s a modest resting place for such a colossal mind, but the simplicity feels right. The Loire Valley air carries a quiet reverence, and standing there, you sense the breadth of his life — a man who never stopped asking why.
Following Leonardo’s path is a meditation on curiosity itself. Each place — Vinci, Florence, Milan, Rome, Amboise — reveals a different facet of his genius, but also a reminder that discovery is a lifelong pursuit. He left behind masterpieces, yes, but also a way of seeing: the belief that art, science, and nature are all part of the same question.