Thirty-five Italians recently learned that they might be related to Leonardo da Vinci.
The findings were made public in Florence by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, historians who have been reconstructing the genealogy of Leonardo for more than 40 years. The researchers have based their work on documents in Italy, France and Spain, including estate papers because there is no DNA evidence. (Leonardo’s remains were lost in the sixteenth century and he had no known offspring.)
In Italian newspaper La Repubblica, one of those named, Elena Calosi, an architect in Empoli, spoke of her surprise, “How does it feel to be descended from relatives of Leonardo da Vinci?
Obviously I’m surprised, but happy, happy also for my grandmother, who is no longer with us, who was proud to have the name Vinci.”
The researchers said they would next try to trace Leonardo’s DNA through the descendants of his family they believed they have identified.
The news may not have been a surprise for director Franco Zeffirelli, the son of Ottorino Corsi, who was born and raised in Vinci. In 2007, when he accepted the Leonardo award from the then Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, Zeffirelli is said to have quipped, “The Corsis, who are my family, were also descendants of Leonardo.”
