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Vinci view
Photo © Dia
Photo © Dia

The Church of Santa Croce in Vinci

church
Places of worship

Located in the center of Leonardo's birthplace, it houses the baptismal font in which the great genius was baptized

The Church of Santa Croce in Vinci, located in the center of the village where Leonardo was born, was originally built in the 13th century but has been restored several times over the centuries and owes its current appearance to the Renaissance-style restoration work done in the 1920s.
The façade, built entirely of stone, has a rose window on which sacred images are depicted and a rectangular portal surmounted by a marble lunette.

The structure has a three-nave layout resting on columns with Corinthian capitals. In the background, near the apse, there are four chapels: Sant'Andrea, Santissimo Sacramento, of the Baptistery (located on the left side) and the Chapel of Santa Croce.

In the chapel of the Baptistery you can admire the historic marble baptismal font in which Leonardo da Vinci was baptized and a sculptural cycle dedicated to the History of Salvation by Cecco Bonanotte was inaugurated in 2011.

Among the works of art preserved in the church, you can admire the Nativity of the Virgin of the 16th century by Francesco Brina, the Virgin of the Rosary by Matteo Rosselli that comes from Badia Fiorentina and the Miracle of San Biagio, an 18th-century work attributed to Gaetano Piattoli.