Veni vidi vinci!
By 2019 more than 500 years will have passed since the death of Leonardo da Vinci and all manner of events and initiatives are being prepared for the anniversary. It was actually on the 2nd May 1515 that Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci died in Amboise, France. Three years earlier, Francis I of France had named him “the first painter, architect and engineer of the King”. A distinguished man of brilliance and universal talent, Leonardo fully embodies the spirit of the Italian Renaissance taking on architecture, sculpture, anatomy, music and engineering.
A veritable genius who spent a long time travelling in order to discover the manifold expressions of human culture and of the Universe. Between 1490 and 1500 Leonardo travelled to Valchiavenna. He was actually in the service of the Milanese Duke Ludovico il Moro, with the brief to verify the nature of the river Mera, which, at the time, flirted with the river Adda before being swallowed up by Lake Como. Leonardo was particularly interested in navigability. He travelled the length of Valchiavenna and into Val Bregaglia recording his observations in his legendary Codice Atlantico, the most comprehensive of Leonardo’s writings and drawings, so-called because of its size and distinct resemblance to an atlas. Within the volume Leonardo wrote “Above lake Como and towards Lamagnia (Germany) lies Valchiavenna where the river Mera runs down to the lake.
Here there are stark and altitudinous mountains along with huge rocks”. Of the surrounding nature he reports: “In these mountains there are water birds called marangoni. Here too there are firs, larch pines, deer, steinbock, chamois and horrible bears. You really need four legs to get about. The very tightness of the mountains narrow the river to half its previous width and it continues for a distance of 20 miles in this manner”. Among the discoveries that attracted Leonardo greatly, as he records in the Codice, were both the taverns and the waterfalls at Acqua Fraggia: “There were fine taverns. And along the river impressive waterfalls, offering great panorama. There’s a good life here. And the river has no shortage of wood”. A reference which illustrates how the Tuscan phenomenon had been seriously smitten by the charm of the falls - still much appreciated on the Italian side of Val Bregaglia at Borgonuovo.
2019 is clearly going to be a rewarding year for Valchiavenna, renewing its ancient links with Leonardo and with a healthy range of events and celebrations in the pipeline.
