Favorite Books Series
A Mind Driven by Ceaseless Curiosity
Fictional thoughts from Leonardo da Vinci, the quintessential student of life
My name is Leonardo, Leonardo da Vinci, as I’m from the Tuscan hilltop town of Vinci, outside of Firenze, Italy. All my life, I’ve been driven by one thing: Curiosity.
My contemporaries know me primarily as a painter, an artist; but I consider myself much more than that. I’m a student of life, and find myself endlessly fascinated by the ways in which the world works and how it’s all connected.
I’ll tell you a story:
In 1487, when I was thirty-five-years-old, the authorities of Milano were seeking an architect for their cathedral. I saw this as a chance to demonstrate my prowess as more than a painter, but as an architect.
On the project I worked with Francesco di Giorgio, a man they call the Leonardo of Siena.
We took a trip to Pavia to look at another cathedral that was being built at the time. In the castle in Pavia, we knew that there was a beautiful manuscript copy of an architectural treatise by Vitruvius, a Roman military officer and engineer from the first-century BC.
