Leonardo da Vinci “prophète de la cité nouvelle”. Alberto Sartoris e la “città ideale”

Abstract

This paper, after reconstructing the historiographical fortunes of the theme of ‘urban planning’ in Leonardo studies in the early decades of the twentieth century (also comparing the different interpretations of the significance of Leonardo’s graphic and textual observations of the city), aims to offer a reflection on the season of research on these themes that took place in the years surrounding the fifth centenary of Leonardo’s birth in Europe, with a specific focus on Alberto Sartoris’s book, Léonard architecte, Paris, Tallone, 1952.