Tour Leonardo da Vinci's Florence

In the mid-1460s Leonardo's family moved to Florence. He started working in the studio of Verrocchio, the leading painter of his day. By 17 Leonardo was formally made an apprentice, and would have learnt many technical skills, such as drawing, metalworking, and plaster casting.

Florence was amongst the most powerful cities in Europe. Although technically a republic, it was in reality ruled by the powerful banking family, the Medici. The Medici were as cultured as they were ruthless, and the arts flourished.

Rich and powerful patrons funded a huge artistic industry. There were said to be more artists than butchers in the city. This crowded bridge, the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), was the centre of the goldsmithing trade.

In January 1478 Leonardo was given his first independent commission, to paint a new altarpiece for the Chapel of St. Bernard in the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall. Shortly after this, Leonardo moved first to Milan to work for Ludovico Sforza, and then to Venice.

When Leonardo returned to Florence in 1500, he and his household stayed at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata, as the guests of the Servite monks According to the writer Giorgio Vasari, it was here that Leonardo drew The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist.

In 1504, Leonardo joined the committee deciding where to place Michelangelo's David. The sculpture had been designed for the cathedral roof, but was instead put right outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Two years later, Leonardo once again left Florence for Milan, never to return.

Take in the town of Vinci and the verdant countryside beyond from this viewpoint at the top of the Castello dei Conti Guidi, home of the Leonardo Museum. Downstairs, find reconstructions of his mechanical designs and anatomical drawings.