Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Vinci

A WhyGo Italy reader once wrote to me: she was spending time in Florence, the Leonardo da Vinci museum in his hometown of Vinci was a must on her list, and she couldn’t work out how to get there by train. The answer was buried, so here it is, along with everything else you need to plan the trip.

The short version: Vinci is a small hill town about 35 km west of Florence, surrounded by olive groves on the slopes of Monte Albano. It has no train station. You take a train to Empoli, then a local bus up to the town. Allow at least an hour each way from Florence, more if you just miss a bus, and give the visit half a day, or a full day if you also walk out to Leonardo’s birthplace.

What You’ll See at the Museo Leonardiano

The Museo Leonardiano opened in the castle on 15 April 1953, during the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s birth (he was born near Vinci on 15 April 1452). It isn’t a painting gallery: none of his paintings are here. What it has is one of the biggest collections of models built from his notebooks, and it’s spread across several sites in and around town:

• Castello dei Conti Guidi. The castle at the top of town dates to the 1100s, though it has been rebuilt many times. It holds the big wooden models built from his notebooks: flying machines, the articulated wing, the aerial screw, war machines and hydraulic engineering, with reproductions of the codex pages they come from. Climb to the panoramic terrace on the castle tower for the view over the olive groves toward Florence (it closes in bad weather).
• Palazzina Uzielli. The first part of the visit, facing Piazza dei Guidi next to the castle: building-site machines, textile machines, clocks and Leonardo’s anatomy studies, with digital displays added in 2021. A ground-floor teaching room, open on set days, has working mechanisms you can operate yourself, a good stop if you have kids.
• “Leonardo e la Pittura” on Via Roma. A teaching exhibition about Leonardo the painter, using reproductions and digital displays of his work.
• Casa Natale di Leonardo. The farmhouse traditionally held to be his birthplace, in the hamlet of Anchiano, about 3 km uphill from Vinci. The house is documented as far back as 1427 and belonged to the da Vinci family for more than 150 years. It’s small, with a multimedia show about his life. Walking there through the olive groves is half the pleasure; if you’re short of time, skip it and do the castle properly.

Pick up tickets at the museum’s welcome center, or book online. The museum also has a web app you can use as a guide on your phone.

Hours and Tickets (2026)

From 1 April to 1 November, the museum (castle, Palazzina Uzielli and the Via Roma exhibition) opens every day from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the birthplace from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. In winter it’s shorter: weekdays 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and weekends and holidays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (5 p.m. at the birthplace). From November to February it’s closed on Tuesdays. The ticket desks close 30 to 45 minutes before the doors.

Ticket	Full	Reduced
Museum plus birthplace	€14	€11
Museum only	€11	€9
Birthplace only	€7	€5

Reduced tickets are for ages 6 to 18, visitors over 67, university students up to 25 and groups of 15 or more. Under-6s go free. Families of two adults and two children (6 to 18) pay €40 for the combined ticket. The combined ticket is the one to buy. Check the museum’s hours and tickets page before you go, since prices and winter hours can change.

How to Get to Vinci from Florence

1. Train to Empoli. From Firenze Santa Maria Novella, take a regional train toward Pisa or Livorno, or toward Siena; both lines stop at Empoli. It’s a fixed regional fare, and trains are frequent. Check times on trenitalia.com.
2. Bus to Vinci. From Empoli, Autolinee Toscane line 49 runs to Vinci. The stops in Vinci are on Via Montalbano and Via Fucini, a short walk below the castle. Buses are much less frequent than the trains, so check the timetable on at-bus.it before you leave Florence and plan your return bus first.

By car, take the FI-PI-LI highway (Florence to Pisa and Livorno) and exit at Empoli, then follow the signs up to Vinci. It’s about 45 minutes from Florence. Driving makes it easy to combine Vinci with lunch in the countryside.

Website: museoleonardiano.it (in Italian, with an English version)

>> Planning more trips out of the city? See our list of day trips from Florence.