Five centuries on, researchers say they are getting closer to testing one of history’s most famous family trees.
A newly published book, “Genìa Da Vinci. Genealogy and Genetics for Leonardo’s DNA,” brings together 30 years of research led by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato of the Leonardo Da Vinci Heritage Association in Vinci. Supported by the Municipality of Vinci, the work reconstructs Leonardo da Vinci’s family tree back to 1331.
The researchers traced 21 generations and more than 400 individuals. They said that work helped them identify 15 living male descendants linked through the paternal line to Leonardo’s father and his half-brother, Domenico Benedetto.
David Caramelli, who coordinates the anthropological and molecular aspects of the Leonardo DNA Project and leads the Department of Biology at the University of Florence, worked with forensic anthropologist Elena Pilli to analyse DNA from six of those descendants.
The results showed matching segments of the Y chromosome across the six men. The project said that confirmed a continuous male lineage within the Da Vinci family dating back at least 15 generations.
Researchers have also identified a Da Vinci family tomb at the Church of Santa Croce in Vinci, where archaeological excavations are under way with the University of Florence.
The site is believed to contain the remains of Leonardo’s grandfather Antonio, his uncle Francesco, and several half-brothers, Antonio, Pandolfo and Giovanni.
Anthropologists Alessandro Riga and Luca Bachechi recovered bone fragments from the site, and some have been radiocarbon dated. One specimen, consistent in age with Leonardo’s relatives, has already undergone paleogenomic testing. Early analysis suggests the individual was male.
“Further detailed analyses are necessary to determine whether the DNA extracted is sufficiently preserved,” says Caramelli, who is also President of the University Museum System. “Based on the results, we can proceed with analysis of Y chromosome fragments for comparison with current descendants.”
If the Y chromosome from the remains matches that of living descendants, the project said it would strengthen historical records and family lineage reconstructions. It said that could also make it possible to analyse biological traces connected to Leonardo himself, including material left on manuscripts or artworks.
The Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project began in 2016 and is coordinated from The Rockefeller University in New York. It includes the J. Craig Venter Institute in California and the University of Florence, with support from the Achelis and Bodman Foundation in New York and the Richard Lounsbery Foundation in Washington, DC.
“Our goal in reconstructing the Da Vinci family’s lineage up to the present day, while also preserving and valuing the places connected to Leonardo, is to enable scientific research on his DNA,” says Vezzosi.
“Through the recovery of Leonardo’s DNA, we hope to understand the biological roots of his extraordinary visual acuity, creativity, and possibly even aspects of his health and causes of death.”
“Even a tiny fingerprint on a page could contain cells to sequence,” says Jesse H. Ausubel of The Rockefeller University and director of the project. “21st-century biology is moving the boundary between the unknowable and the unknown. Soon we may gain information about Leonardo and other historical figures once believed lost forever.”
The book also includes new historical research on Leonardo’s family and property records in Vinci. Researchers said they identified seven Da Vinci family homes in the village and castle of Vinci, along with two properties once owned by Leonardo himself.
It also revisits Leonardo’s grandfather Antonio, described in the study as a travelling merchant who operated between Catalan Spain and Morocco, and examines new archival analysis about Leonardo’s mother, Caterina. The book says evidence suggests she may have been a slave working for a wealthy banker, Vanni di Niccolò di ser Vanni.
Another finding centres on a charcoal drawing on the fireplace mantle of an old building in Vinci, once known as the Bracci house. Vezzosi and Sabato named the image the “Unicorn Dragon” and said comparisons with a known drawing from the 1470s suggest it could be an early work by Leonardo, with further scientific analysis and restoration planned.
“Leonardo questioned the origins of human life not only biologically: in his studies on generation, conception becomes a complex act where nature, emotion, and fate intertwine — anticipating themes now central to the genetics-epigenetics debate,” explains Agnese Sabato.
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