The monumental Mole Vanvitelliana in the harbor of the Adriatic City of Ancona is the spectacular setting for a most original Leonardo exhibition. For the first time Leonardo's presence at Urbino and Pesaro as an architect and general engineer in the service of Cesare Borgia in 1502 is presented in a historical and cultural context that includes every aspect of Leonardos art, science and technology, and also his philosophical outlook. The rarely seen materials, presented here in a fully illustrated catalogue, are also discussed in detail by seven scholars of international repute coordinated by the editor.

Pursuing the intersections of Venetian culture from the beginning of the sixteenth century through the first decades of the seventeenth, Manfredo Tafuri develops a story crowded with characters and full of surprises. He engages the doges Andrea Gritti and Leonardo Dona; architects and artists Sansovino, Serlio, Palladio, and Scamozzi; and scientists Francesco Barozzi and Galileo. He records the battle that was fought for architecture as metaphor for absolute truth and good government, and contrasts these with the myths that inspired them.