2 Chapter 1 An Unwanted Boy

Chapter 1 An Unwanted Boy On April 15, 1452, in a tiny hill town in Italy, a baby boy was born. His father was a well-to-do businessman, Ser Piero. His mother, Caterina, was a poor young peasant girl. We don't even know her last name. Their baby was named Leonardo. Because the town he came from was called Vinci,

he was known as Leonardo da Vinci. That means Leonardo from Vinci. Leonardo's parents weren't married. His father was ashamed of the baby and left him with his mother. Ser Piero married another woman, someone more respectable, and started a new family. He moved nearby to the busy city of Florence. Caterina did not want to keep her baby, either. She cared for him for only a year or two. Then she, too, married someone else and began a new family. So what was to become of little Leonardo? Ser Piero's answer was to leave the baby with his parents. But Leonardo's grandparents were old

—his grandfather was eighty-five at the time. At their age, what did they want with a toddler? Still, they took him in. They fed him, clothed him, and gave him a home. But little else. No one loved the little boy. The only person who showed interest in him was an uncle named Francesco. Francesco was a farmer and he loved the beautiful countryside around Vinci. He would take long walks in the hills, which were covered with olive trees.

Leonardo would go with him. It was there on these walks that Leonardo grew to love the natural world. The rolling shapes of the hills. The silvery leaves of the olive trees. The flight of birds. And the soft misty sunlight. Everywhere he went, Leonardo took a little notebook with him. He made drawings of anything that interested him. A plant. Ducks in a stream. Flowers. An insect. Some cows. Paper was very valuable, but Leonardo was lucky. Because of his father's business, there was always a supply. It was one of the most important things Ser Piero ever gave his son.

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PARCHMENT AND PAPER PARCHMENT IS MADE FROM THE SKINS OF ANIMALS SUCH AS SHEEP, CALVES, OR GOATS. THE SKIN IS DRIED AND TREATED UNTIL IT BECOMES FLAT AND PAPERLIKE. PARCHMENT IS MUCH STRONGER THAN PAPER. IT IS