The link between Leonardo and Cesenatico

September 6, 1502: Leonardo Da Vinci visited Cesenatico

Porto Cesenatico was the name of Cesenatico until the town gained its independence from Cesena in the XIX century. Cesare Borgia, il Valentino, lord of Cesena, by appointing Leonardo Da Vinci as his architect and general engineer, allowed the Genius to come to Romagna and leave his mark on a “paper notebook”, in which he jotted down reminders and observations. On this famous pocket book, the Codex L, Da Vinci made two drawings: the “perspective view of Porto Cesenatico and the surrounding buildings” and the “planimetry of the Cesenatico canal port”.

In the first, called “bird's-eye view”, probably made from the medieval fortress (unfortunately destroyed in the Second World War), three arches are visible in a position corresponding to what was once called the San Giuseppe bridge, a few houses, the curve of the canal, the two guardian piers and the salt pan grid to the left and right of the sketch.

From the drawing, it can be seen how in 1500 the coastline, i.e. the sea, reached where today the “canal spur” is located, before Piazza Ciceruacchio, today marked by a plaque describing its importance.

The drawing of the canal port survey, on the other hand, is an analytical and technical view of the Canal Port. One can see the confluence of the Fossatone canal into the port, still the San Giuseppe bridge (which for Cesenatico today is the cat bridge), the schematic drawing of the piling. Furthermore, numbers, indecipherable notes and two small sketches that seem to have no correlation with the port are visible. Above the drawing is the date “Porto Cesenatico on the 6th day of September 1502 at 15 o'clock”, in which Leonardo specifies his presence on site at 9 AM on September 6, as it was not three in the afternoon but the fifteenth hour after sunset, therefore, being September, in the early morning.