The Solo Scale:

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When in Tuscany, one of the smaller towns available to explore is Vinci. In Chianti, if you want a break from drinking wine and enjoying homemade pasta, this is an excellent half day.

Heading into Vinci, you’ll notice that it’s not a main city centre. However, it has a pretty big claim to fame. It’s the home of Casa Natale di Leonardo, where he was born. You can also visit the site of da Vinci’s baptism at the church of Santa Croce.

The plaza just outside the home has a 3D model of the Vitruvian man and an overlook of the area behind Vinci.

At 12 Euros, the museum itself is fairly small. Compared to the museum in Amboise, this one has very few items (approximately three rooms’ worth of items like the clock below and an upper area with a few more exhibits). If you want to see sketches from his notebook, Amboise is where you can see those. Here, these are renderings of the inventions from his notebooks. There’s still plenty to learn (though the explanations are solely in Italian), but this museum is more of a historical site.

The museum does have a few little surprises, such as the beautiful view from the walls, where you can catch a refreshing breeze and a fantastic view of the surrounding area. Plus, it’s hard to oversell the historical magnitude. Standing there, you’re in the same place that Leonardo da Vinci grew up.

Is this a must visit? If you have a morning to spare and are on your way to another destination, it’s a perfectly good stop, especially if you appreciate art history.

Ready to visit? Check out the Vinci website and start planning!

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