How many of us have dreamed of having some illustrious ancestor? Some thirty-five Italians were astonished to get the news that they may be descendents of Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci. Historians Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato revealed the results of their genealogy studies recently in Florence, where they had traced the maestro's bloodline through the centuries to the present day.
Vezzosi, who directs the Leonardo da Vinci Ideal Museum in the town of Vinci, Leonardo's birthplace, explained that their research was based on documents in Italy, France and Spain. They did not have access to DNA samples, because of the time lapse and also because the place of Leonardo's burial is not certain as the chapel near Amboise in France where he was originally interred was destroyed.
The descendants included a motley group of professionals, but only one star – the celebrated film director, Gianfranco Corsi, better known by his nome d'arte Gianfranco Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli was born in Vinci.
Virtually nothing is known of Da Vinci's private life. He never married and had no legitimate children. It has always been assumed he was homosexual. In one of his notebooks he expressed aversion towards sexual relations with women: The act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions
However, both his father and mother had other partners in their lifetime, and produced collectively 17 other children. It can therefore be presumed that these descendents come from Leonardo's half-brothers and sisters.
Info: www.museoleonardo.com
