Submitted by Randy Short on the 2016 spring semester program in Tuscany, Italy…
Today we toured the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci and the house of exile for Machiavelli. I found the house of Machiavelli more interesting. I think the town of Vinci was grasping at straws, trying to make up for the fact that they had few artifacts from Leonardo’s life. Sometimes towns have to create the story, rather than just merely repeating it. This is similar to the Vampires in Volterra tour.
The Machiavelli house was interesting for all the secret passages and imagining him creating the story in the house. I loved the beautiful gardens and the fireplace in the restaurant. It felt so much like a Tuscan building, old and weathered, but warm and inviting.