For those who are interested in Leonardo, Casa Natale di Leonardo (Leonardo's birthplace) is one of the places you want to visit at least once.

I also had a strong desire to go, but in the end I prioritized sightseeing in Florence and didn't visit. Looking back, I feel a little regretful that I should have gone.

However, Vinci village seems close but is far away, about 50 kilometers from Florence. It takes about an hour and a half by car. It takes three hours round trip, plus sightseeing and breaks, so it takes a whole day.

You need to be prepared to spend one day of your precious stay just in Vinci village.

And another reason why I can't decide to go is the question of whether it is really Leonardo's birthplace. Its exterior looks a bit like a farm barn or warehouse, and it stands alone a little away from Vinci village, so it has some features that are a little different from ordinary private buildings.

One might think that this building was not Leonardo's birthplace, but was originally a public oil mill for making olive oil.

The reason is the location of the building.

The building is surrounded by olive fields, and all the roads to the fields lead from this building. In other words, the roads are such that all the olives collected from the surrounding fields are gathered here.

The reason why one might think that the building is an oil mill lies in the characteristics of olives.

The shorter the time between picking and pressing the olives, the better the quality of the olive oil produced. Therefore, the closer the olives are to the olive fields, the better the conditions for the oil mill.

This building is built in the perfect location to set up such an oil mill.

When you look at the building with that in mind, it's strange how it really does look like an oil mill.

It's entirely possible that the building that people all over the world believed to be Leonardo's birthplace was not even a private home, but simply the remains of an olive oil mill.