Leonardo da Vinci in the territory: the places, the studies and the machines of the genius. Permanently on show up at the water Mill of Ludovico il Moro in Vigevano. 30 km from Milano

THE EXHIBIT IS PERMANENT

We are glad to invite you to discover another important place in italy (30 Km. from Milan) where Leonardo lived and worked: Vigevano. In this town our association organised a very special exhibition of the interactive machines reproduced from Leonardo's codices. The location is unique because is the water mill of Ludovico il Moro. Mora Bassa's Water Mill own property of Ludovico il Moro, donated as wedding present to his wife, Beatrice d'Este.

- many working models exactly reproduced from Leonardo da Vinci's codices and a Water Mill of the XV century.
- illustrative panels in with images and expositions of Leonardo's study about hydraulics.
- standing exhibit which presents 25 panels with the story of farming's development and canal's construction.
-Teaching way for study and application of calculation of water's flow and for working of the differing openings of canalisation which control the flow into the canals for irrigation of fields.
-Private and baroque Church of the XVIII century.
-Refreshment point - book shop - conference room.

Opening on Saturday and on Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00.
For groups opened on booking every day.
Information and booking groups :

Associazione La Città Ideale 
Mulino Di Mora Bassa
 Strada Mora Bassa N° 38

27029 - Vigevano – Pv – Tel 393/9517846

FAX 0381/81915

Admission fee :
-ticket at the full rate 5 euro
-cheap ticket 3,50 euro
-school children 2'50 euro.
-guided tour € 2.00 per person

The glider, the parachute, the windlass, the bombard, the wooden bycicle, the famous air screw: this is only part of the 40 machines dersigned by Leonardo that are on show at the Mill of Mora Bassa (via Mora Bassa 38, Vigevano - PV) - a XV-cent. building that Ludovico il Moro gave to his wife Beatrice d'Este as a wedding gift.
The machines - that Leonardo designed for building, war-making and flying purposes, have been faithfully reproduced on the basis of Leonardo's drawings, which are collected in the manuscripts ( Atlantic, Madrid etc.). The models were born from the skilled hands of Florentine and Milanese craftsmen, who created them out of wood, metal and fabric, on scale or full size, under the supervision of experienced engineers.
But the most interesting feature of the show is that the machines can actually be manipulated in order to see the effects of their working.
With the help of the illustrated explanatory boards that the exhibit is supplied with, the visitors will be able to understand Leonardo's studies on hydraulics, agriculture and irrigation systems; they will also be led through an educational tour during which both the capacity and the functioning of the canals of irrigation can be experimented on.
Visitors will also be given the chance to see a standing-by XVIII-cent. chapel. On demand, the tour at the Mill could be followed by two additional visits:

- The Hydroelectric Power Plant: an art nouveau building of 1904 that still uses its original turbines.
- The "Sforzesca", a close-at-hand hamlet that was part of Ludovico il Moro's estate and rises in the natural resource of the Ticino river. This tour will include: the residence of Ludovico il Moro and that of the prince of Sforzesca; the "via dei fiori" - literally, "the street of flowers", that is the street where the farmers that worked for Ludovico il Moro lived; the steps designed by Leonardo that appear in the Hammer manuscript.
People who particularly enjoy walking in the countryside can participate to one of ours Naturals "expert guided tour".
On the ticino river we are able to organise Soft Rafting excursions with very expert guides.
The show is open to visitors on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 11:00.
Visits can be booked every day of the week for groups. Reservation is required.
A refreshment point, a book shop (with books and gadgets on Leonardo) and a conference room are also at the visitors disposal.

THE AIM OF THE ASSOCIATION "LA CITTA' IDEALE - THE IDEAL TOWN"
"The Ideal Town" is a non-profit association that was born in Vigevano in the year 2003. Its six founders joined their working experience in the field of communications with their passion for the arts and for Leonardo in order to create a cultural project on the territory of Lombardy, connecting schools and family.
This project began with the exhibition "Leonardo's machines" that started on September 29th 2002 and was organized by the same participants of the association in the ancient rooms of the Water Mill of Mora Bassa. The Mill constitutes just the perfect place, since it anciently belonged to Leonardo da Vinci's patron Ludovico Sforza - "Il Moro" - as the entire area of Vigevano did. He gave it to his wife Beatrice d'Este as a gift for their marriage and there he was said to have his secret meetings with his lover, Cecilia Gallerani.
The administration of the building for the exhibition was given to the association by the "Associazione Irrigazione Est Sesia" - the association responsible for the irrigation system in northern Italy - that presently owns it.The exhibition is made of part of a collection of machines built by skilled Milanese and Florentine craftsmen who reproduced them from Leonardo's drawings.The entire collection owns 140 perfectly functioning models built using with the materials of Leonardo's times: wood, iron and linen fabric.
The great success that the event met with is the proof of the receptivity of the people toward such a theme and of the possibility of expanding the association's horizons, up to the target of making the exhibition permanent. The main aim of this exhibition is to introduce the association on an international level through the realization of a Centre of Research of Leonardo da Vinci that let emerge the traces of Leonardo's presence and studies in many places in and out of the Italian territory. In this sense, the target of the Centre is that of creating a net of places linked by Leonardo's cultural and living evidences; all this can be obtained by the comparison of Leonardo's notes and the drawings of the codices with the traces that are present in the territory of Lomellina, which Leonardo took as the study ground for hydrology, land drainage and irrigation and canalisation systems.
Leonardo leaves in his notes many evidences of his passage through the territory of Vigevano. The first one belongs to the year 1494, when he arrives to the court of Ludovico Sforza. There - and, more precisely, at the Sforzesca, in the environs of Vigevano - he notices a stair dug in the ground that he experiments as a way of canalising water for the irrigation and as a draining system. In fact, this type of stairs are able to transport a great amount of earth and they were just the perfect answer to the need of draining the marshes of the surrounding area. Leonardo understood the importance of this method and he made of Vigevano and the Sforzesca the place where to experiment new growing systems on Ludovico Sforza's demand. Leonardo reports in his notes:
"Adì 2 febbraio 1494 alla Sforzesca ritrassi scalini 25 di 2/3 l'uno larghi braccia 8[…]" (MS. H, f. 65v.).
Later, in 1506-1510 he rewrites the same concept making reference of Vigevano (cfr. COD. Leicester, f. 32v.).
This is the evidence that Vigevano is an important site of the itinerary of Leonardo, which is meant to start from the Museum of Vinci and arrive to Amboise, the place where Leonardo spent the last part of his life.
Still imbued of its historically and culturally glorious past as part of the Sforza's court, Vigevano introduces itself as the promoter of the emerging of other realities and places where Leonardo's presence is still alive and recognizable, in order to make them part of the itinerary of Leonardo's traces in Lombardy.
In the mind of the association, this project is not intended merely to give an incentive to tourism. In fact, the feature that The Ideal Town meant to enlighten with the exhibition and still aims to bring along with the future events is the endless power Leonardo has on arousing curiosity in grownups and children, therefore creating a unique situation of communication among them. Communication, which is obviously very difficult nowadays and especially among children and adults, is what at last arouses from the visits at the exhibition, where parents and children find a common ground of discussion on Leonardo's theme. The machines that are on show at the Mill are totally interactive: during the guides, children can for example see how a clock works from the inside, teenagers can experiment the principles of physics they studied in class, the parents get the chance to spend a pleasant afternoon sharing experiences with their children.
This is the spirit the association has been working with so far.
Check, the translation of our study on Leonardo' s presence in the area of Vigevano. Professor Marco Cianchi used it, together with his own observations, for the lecture he gave at the castle of Vigevano on May 16th, 2003. According to Cianchi, the area of Vigevano is a fundamental point in the "route of Leonardo".

LEONARDO'S TRACES IN VIGEVANO AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.
The importance of the H Manuscript
Introduction to the codex
The H Manuscript belongs to the group of codices that are said to be the "pocket codices". Leonardo used it to take brief notes and to make quick sketches. It is made of three different notebooks - known as H1, H2 and H3 - of 142 pages each. They were joined together at the beginning of the XVII century and a cover made of parchment with a button hole and a stick kept it closed and preserved it from getting spoiled. What happened to this manuscript is more or less the
same that occurred to other codices that finally arrived to France: it passed from Leonardo's possession to Melzi' s, then from Melzi' s heirs to Pompeo Leoni and then to Count Arconati, who donated it to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in 1637. There it remained until Napoleon got hold of it and sent it to Paris in 1795.
The contents
The H Manuscript is the result of a rough joining of the three separate notebooks, whose contents refer to the period that goes from 1493 to 1494. It is difficult to trace a common theme. Studies on hydraulics, notes on a bestiary, projects for the digging of canals, notes on the painting of frescoes and even on the fixing of a lock are all mixed up in the manuscript. Many texts and sketches are made with sanguine, which Leonardo often used for his quick drawings; others are traced with an ink pen. This double way of writing is due to Leonardo' s way of working, that aimed to catch his first impressions and then organize them.
The manuscript appears as a sort of diary in which Leonardo collects his impressions on events of every-day life or on his on-the-spot investigations; later on, he would reorganize them and add the comments that he had privately meditated. For example, he enumerates a series of hydrological observations that must have been made right by a water stream, for they concern the turbulence of water. At the same time, turbulence leaves out the option that it was the Naviglio that Leonardo was studying; it is more probable that it would have been some faster stream or river of Lombardy, such as the Ticino river, that he calls "Tesino".
Those years Leonardo often visited Vigevano: there he worked at the Sforzesca, the new Villa that Ludovico il Moro had ordered and that belonged to a route of seven farms where new growing and irrigative techniques were to be experimented.
Water is the main theme of the manuscript. Leonardo had already wrote about water in the A Manuscript, that is better organized than the H one. Thanks to the comparison between these two codices it is possible to set the steps of Leonardo' s research in a chronological way.

The proves of Leonardo' s presence in Vigevano.
It is in the H Manuscript that Vigevano appears most frequently. Here, as in the other codices, Leonardo shows to be an artist, an architect, an engineer. He takes notes on the painting of "24 storie romane" - 24 Roman stories - that are on the outside walls of the Villa Sforzesca; he also drafts an estimate for the digging of a canal and projects a removable pavilion. A more difficult
estimate concerns the digging of a 30-mile long channel, that according to some researchers could have been the Naviglio of Martesana.
The manuscript also contains a great number of sketches; they are mostly projects for the building of hydraulic structures that, bending to the stream and the movements of water, contribute to contain its disrupting power.

LEONARDO' S WORKS ON HYDRAULICS
"Nessun incastro dee esser più stretto che il suo universal canale, perché l'acqua fa retrosi e rompe l' argine" .
Leonardo da Vinci, MS. H, 28v.
In the area of the Sforzesca it is still possible to recognize the works that Leonardo drew in his manuscripts, for example, the work "tre incastri" - three joints - that regulates the flow of water from the irrigation channel to the fields; it is a structure built in the shape of a trapezium arch that provides to the nearby field the right amount of water.
The notes in the manuscript continue:
"vignie di Vigevine nella vernata si sotterrano" .
Leonardo da Vinci, MS. H, 38r.
Next to this note there is a sketch that represents the burying of the vines, a technique that was frequently applied in the area of Vigevano to preserve the plants from the cold of the winter.
The drawing that reproduces part of the Colombarone is also recognizable in this same sheet.

"Adì 2 febbraio 1494 alla Sforzesca ritrassi 25 scalini di 2/3 di braccio l' uno larghi braccia 8" .
Leonardo da Vinci, MS. H, 65v.
These are the famous steps that according to Leonardo could be used to drain the marshes of that area by making the water flow down.
The drawings show the details of this procedure, reporting every measurement. Moreover, the steps are also intended to balance the flow of the water in the fields that were grown as water-meadows: in fact, they always need the water to cover them up to the top, but they are not at the same ground level.
The importance of the Leicester Codex
Introduction to the codex
It is made of 36 sheets with recto and verso that Leonardo wrote with an ink pen from 1506 to 1508 - keeping on adding parts up to 1510. He put the sheets together one inside the other and maybe later he himself had it bind up to convert it in a real codex.
Only after Hammer had bought the manuscript the sheets were separated again, restoring its original appearance.
The Milanese sculptor Guglielmo della Porta came into possession of the codex in 1537 and almost a century later the painter Giuseppe Grezzi bought it, in 1690. In 1717 della Porta sold it to Thomas Coke, who was to become the first Count of Leicester. In 1980, Coke sold it to the American oil magnate Armand Hammer at an auction and in the same way Bill Gates bought it in 1994; the codex remained therefore in the United Sates.
The contents
The main theme of the manuscript is Leonardo' s study on water, that he furnishes with drawings of stream, jumps and whirlpools. Leonardo believes the Earth to have originally been under the sea; in this sense, water plays the main role in the whole manuscript: it is the explanation for the changes that the surface of the Earth went through during the ages and for the presence of fossils on the top of the mountains.
Leonardo' s drawings on the "Diluvi" - the floods: mountainous landscapes that are totally soaked into watery lands - are the typical background of many paintings of his, such as the "Gioconda".
This codex includes studies on astronomy.

NOTES THAT TESTIFY LEONARDO' S PRESENCE IN VIGEVANO
In the Leicester manuscript - now called the Hammer Codex - Leonardo talks closely of the water steps at the Sforzesca and draws them again. He also shows the device that slows the water flow and therefore diminishes its falling power. This is a device he experimented at the Mill "della Scala" at the Sforzesca, that still exists.
Leonardo also writes:
"[…] se non in figure di gradi scale bene incastrate insieme a coda di rondine incatenate e di sopra ponghino forte l' una all' altra[…]" .
Leonardo da Vinci, Cod. Hammer 15 B, 22r.
At the Mill of Mora Alta there is a bridge that permits to a channel to pass over the other. The device is made of three boards made out of granite that are kept together by a system of joints; on the upper part, two cross-bars are secured by a swallow-tailed joint.
Another device is situated in the plain, at the same level of the Ticino river, between the small lake of Santa Martretta and the Mill of della Croce. It is a seven-joint device that has the function of collecting and delivering back the water.

THE 2004 EXHIBITIONS

Museum of the town of Lucca, permanent, located in "Palazzo Cerami", via Roma 20, Lucca.
open upon pre-booking until March 15th 2004 and every day until November 2nd 2004.
Open daily from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m
Admission € 5.00, reduction € 3,50, school parties € 2.50.
Guided tours and school parties info and bookings: mobile n. 340/5557016 fax 055/8964387

In Vigevano, located in the "Mulino di Mora Bassa", permanent.
Open Saturdays and Sundays from 10.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
And daily upon pre-booking for guided tours and school parties
Admission € 5.00 reduction € 3.50, school parties € 2.50.
Map and info at www.vigevano.org
Guided tours and school parties info and bookings: mobile n. 335/5207542 - - - fax 0381 345661

In Venice, located in S. Stae's church from March 15th to November 7th 2004.
Admission € 6, reduction € 4, school parties € 2.50. Open daily from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.;
guided tours and school parties info and bookings: mobile n. 335/5379071-339/7985464 fax 055/8964387

In Siena, vicolo del Bargello 6 and via di Città 65, permanent. Admission € 6, reduction € 4, school parties € 2.50. Open daily from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.; guided tours and school parties info and bookings: mobile no. 339/7985464- 335/5379071 fax 055/8964387

In Florence, until 7 November 2004, via Cavour 214. Admission € 6, reduction € 4, school parties € 2.50. Open daily from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.; guided tours and school parties info and bookings: mobile n. 339/7985464 - 335/5379071 fax 055/8964387.

In Naples in the "Museo Città Aperta", tourist reception center, Via Pietro Colletta 89/95; info and bookings: 081/5636062 - 081/5636070. Until April 15th 2004.

In Beijing october 2004

In Rome from december 2004 to february 2005

THE 2005 EXHIBITIONS

In Spoleto from march to june 2005