Leonardo da Vinci museum — Attraction in Vinci

This museum is in two adjacent locations, on two floors in the main part and in the Castle next door, don't forget to visit the Castle as that's where the flying machine models are. There's are lots of models of the mechanisms and machines that Da Vinci postulated and (maybe) even constructed. None of the beautiful models on display (modern historic artefacts in their own right) can actually be seen working although they obviously are constructed to function as intended by Da Vinci. This is a bit disappointing and actually quite frustrating but understandable as the models are almost too valuable to become damaged or worn out, it's very tempting to turn a handle but not allowed! To compensate there are a number of GGI animated models on nearby screens which do show the workings very well. There is also a large informative caption dedicated to the model makers and talented technicians who produced the models from the original drawings which was good to see.

In the castle there's a room which shows how the drawings, from which we know so much about his work, were made with details of ink, paper and pen methods.

There are also sections on Da Vinci's contributions to the study of anatomy, physiology and medicine.

Descriptive captions are numerous and informative in Italian and mostly translated to English with a few exceptions.

It's not a huge museum but exhibits are well presented with enough information and explanations.

The same ticket for 9 euro also gains access to the church on the same site where you can see the font that (most probably) was used in Da Vinci's christening. You can also go up to the top of the castle tower which has fantastic views of the town and the surrounding countryside.

I visited in late July 2023 in the heatwave and there was a short queue for tickets and no queue to get in. Parking outside was full up so I parked just up the road on the way out of the town, 5...

Pretty cool museum that has a quite a lot of examples of Leonardo’s work. This is in Leonardo’s home town so it has much about his early life and the types of projects he worked on. It explains that his early engineering work was centred around automating the manufacture of cloth. It also tells you much about how he learnt to draw bodies so accurately from studying human anatomy. The museum is quite small but the entrance cost gets you into this, the castle of the Counts Guidi (that has amazing views from the top) and the house he lived in (that is about 1km north of the town). It’s not really aimed at young children but for older kids and adults I thought it was worth a visit. Vinci is a pretty little town nestled in the foothills of the Apennines and it is surrounded by some stunningly beautiful...

It has taken me over 20 years to get to Vinci and what a hidden treasure. Driving from Pisa airport to Siena, via Empoli, the signs to Leonardo’s birth place have always been tempting, but I have never managed a stop. In 2019, celebrating 500 years from his death , a visit was a must do. I visited on Monday when there was plenty of parking and no crowds. The town is well organised and one ticket gave me access to the Museum that showcases Leonardo’s anatomical studies, the Tower that includes his inventions and engineering feats and then a kilometre from the town, the house where Leonardo was born, with an amazing 3D film of his life and a nearby villa that displays reproductions of his paintings. Highly recommend a visit, and make sure you have at least 3 hours to spend there. Leonardo was a...