35 Leonardo da Vinci’s relatives found. Zeffirelli is one of them

Worldwide famous Italian director Franco Zeffirelli is one of the 35 relatives of Leonardo da Vinci, as recently confirmed by a group of historians who, for years, have been busy re-tracing the heritage of the Man of the Millennium.

The researchers have used several documents and a fine genealogical detective work and, eventually, were able to reconstruct 15 generations of Leonardo’s family tree.

Luckily, the great genius had left behind - at the time of his death, in 1519 - around 6000 pages and a countless number of documents, not only witnessing its out-of-the-world intelligence, but also some enigmas that will probably never be solved.

The starting point for the research team were the records of his paternal grandfather, Antonio, who noted the genius’ birth - but documents and estate papers found in Italy, France and Spain were also used and analyzed.

Anyway,Leonardo’s paternal line was quite interesting, according to the historians. “We checked documents and tombs as far as France and Spain in order to reconstruct the history of Leonardo’s family. We even found [an] unknown tomb of Leonardo’s family in Vinci.”

Eventually, the historians involved in this grand research discovered that 35 people living around Florence and surrounding villages - Vinci included - are certainly genealogically related to Leonardo: they include a policeman, a pastry chef, a retired blacksmith, an accountant, an architect and even a famous director - Franco Zeffirelli.

Elena Calosi, one of da Vinci’s relatives, is understandably excited: “Obviously I’m surprised, but happy, happy also for my grandmother who is no more, who was proud to have the name Vinci”.

But what about Leonardo’s remains? Their fate is still disputed. His body was initially buried in a chapel near Amboise, in France, where he died. But during the wars of the 16th century, the structure was destroyed and, later, the genius’ remains were possibly moved to the nearby Saint-Hubert Chapel, where a marked grave currently stands - although some doubt the the authenticity of the burial site.

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