Verrazzano's journey and his relationship with Leonardo

Missinne at at the Cushwa Center of the University of Notre Dame in Rome

Rome [ENA] Professor Stefaan Missinne, of the Royal Geographic Society, gave a lecture on 14 March 2024 on his new discoveries relating to Verrazzano's journey(1485 – 1528), and his relationship with Leonardo da Vinci, which were completely unknown until now. The conference, organized in hybrid mode, both online and in person, at the Cushwa Center of the University of Notre Dame in Rome.

Further interventions were offered by Leonardo Rombai (University of Florence) and Francesco Guidi Bruscoli (University of Florence). Johan Ickx (Historical Archive of the Section for Relations with States, Secretariat of State, Holy See) made the concluding remarks.In the archive of the Verrazzano castle in Greve in Chianti, Professor Stefaan Missinne, discoverer of the da Vinci globe dating back to 1504, came across the 500-year-old travel diary of the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano. The discovery took him to Windsor Castle, where among Leonardo da Vinci's papers he found a painting from 1515 depicting an open sea route between Florida, as an island, and Newfoundland.

Verrazzano met Magellan in Seville in 1517 before his historic departure, but did Leonardo, while living in France between 1516 and 1519, in any way influence his young royal employer and his Tuscan compatriot? Surprisingly, the Verrazzano and da Vinci families were neighbors in Florence. In this reevaluation of Verrazzano's travel account, Missinne has offered new evidence on Leonardo and Verrazzano. Professor Stefaan Missinne became famous in June 2012 at the RGS - Royal Geographical Society in London. At the International Map Fair organized by IMCOS (The International Map Collectors' Society) he made the discovery of an early Renaissance ostrich egg globe.

Forensic analysis and detailed year-long international interdisciplinary research revealed that the unique artifact was the work of none other than Leonardo da Vinci. Missinne's groundbreaking findings were published by Cambridge Scholars in August 2018, and since then the work, simply titled The Da Vinci Globe, has been widely praised, calling it "one of the most significant discoveries of the 21st century" (Ambassador António de Almeida Ribeiro).The Da Vinci globe or Globe of Missinne is the first on which the names of countries such as Brazil, Germany, Gaul, Russia, Anglia, Scotland, Armenia, Judea, and many other places.

Francesca Grego, art historian wrote in the review arte.it, Rome 2018: "This globe is actually the oldest engraved globe and Leonardo could make it thanks to geographical information from Amerigo Vespucci. Professor Missinne spotted a drawing by Leonardo, kept at the British Library, and formerly classified as a representation of the Moon: he demonstrated that the drawing is a prepatory one for this globe. Symbols and an anagram – are engraved on this wonderful globe”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8New9_TL4I&t=3s