LEONARDO’S PROJECT FOR THE DIVERSION OF THE ARNO - LEONARDO’S MAPS AND MACHINE, THE TUSCANY’S TERRITORY

Room X

A room in the Leo-Lev Exhibition Center is set up for educational purposes to introduce public Leonardo da Vinci and his project about the diversion of the Arno River, together his maps of Tuscany and excavating and hydraulic machines.

A video and didatic panels talk about one of Leonardo’s greatest projects, the diversion of the Arno and the creating a channel. He worked it for over forty years with different goals: reorganize the  Tuscany’s hidrography, reclaim the swampy areas, irrigate the fields, prevent flooding, procure energy resources, create an fluvial communication via and prepare dams useful for military tactics. 

• 

Accordingly, Renaissance Master studied two possibilities for making the Pistoia Canal flow into the Arno, and then on to the sea, through the Padule di Fucecchio marshes or those of Bientina.

From an early age Leonardo knew the best points of view for observing the landscape interested for the project, as can be see from the Windsor Castle Map, RL 12685.

The artist-scientist thought of geometrically tracing a semicircle-shaped canal from Florence to Serravalle, crossing the towns of Prato and Pistoia: so anticipating the Firenze-Mare highway as can be seen in the Windsor Castle Map RL 12279 and Codex Madrid II 22 verso – 23 recto.

For achieving project of the Arno’s Diversion , Leonardo da Vinci invented some excavating and hydraulic machines, powerful and revolutionary.

Finally, Leonardo arrange to divert the Arno River into a watercourse upstream of Pisa, toward the Livorno marshe. The intent was to take away the presence of the river and its resources from the city of Pisa at war with Florence, forcing its surrender. The execution of this project began in August 1504, but the the work was later left.