This is the Santa Croce's Church which was built in Vinci (Via Giorgio La Pira, 1). Here Leonardo da Vinci was baptized by the priest Piero of Bartolomeo. On the main front of the Church, on the left side, it is possible to observe an inscription that remembers the visit to Vinci of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, future Pope Giovanni XXIII, on September 18th-19th, 1949.
Still today in the Church it is present, at the beginning of the right aisle, the baptismal font where Leonardo was baptized. It is in a Baptistery inaugurated on 15th April 1952 on the occasion of the celebrations for the fiftieth centenary of Leonardo da Vinci’s birth. The Baptistery was realized by Ugo Giulio Arata and it has an octagonal structure. The Baptistery is decorated by some alcoves containing sculptures inspired to the history of the salvation, realized by the artist Cecco Bonanotte.
Near the baptismal font, on the left, there is an inscription that remembers a letter of Leonardo da Vinci's grandfather, Antonio Da Vinci, discovered in the “State Archives of Florence” in 1931, in which he described the day and time of his grandson's birth. On it we can read: “NACHVE VN MIO NIPOTE FIGLIVOLO DI SER PIERO MIO FIGLIVOLO A DI/15 D’APRILE JN SABATO A ORE 3 DI NOTTE EBBE NOME LIONARDO BATTEZZOLLO PRETE PIERO DI BARTOLOMEO DA VINCCI PAPINO DI NANNJ BANTTJ MEO DI TONINO PIERO DI MALVOLTTO NANNJ DI VENZO/ARIGHO DI GIOVANNJ TODESCHO/-/MONNA LISA DI DOMANICHO DI BRETTONE MONNA ANTONIA DI GIVLIANO MONNA NICCOLOSA DEL BARNA MONNA MARIA FIGLIVOLA DI NANNJ DI VENZO MONNA PIPPA DI PREVICHONE”.
- Photos and main text by Giulia Marra ti.supmacla|arram.ailuig#| and Luigi Sogaro ti.supmacla|oragos.igiul#| (December 2016), courtesy of Santa Croce's Church (Vinci)
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