{"id":416606,"date":"2025-12-01T06:05:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/416606\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T06:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:05:25","slug":"da-vinci-takes-flight-at-san-diego-air-space-museum-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/416606\/","title":{"rendered":"Da Vinci takes flight at San Diego Air & Space Museum \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Curator\u2019s Words\u00a0<\/strong>is an occasional series that takes a critical look at current exhibitions through the eyes of curators.<\/p>\n

Since earlier this year, the San Diego Air & Space Museum has hosted a groundbreaking exhibition that takes a close look at Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s inventions, specifically those pertaining to flight.<\/p>\n

The exhibition, which closes early next year, is called \u201cDa Vinci\u2019s First Flight,\u201d and it was designed and presented by the Artisans of Florence<\/a>, a global company that presents touring exhibitions in partnership with the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci<\/a> in Florence, Italy.<\/p>\n

Thomas Rizzo, the company\u2019s director of traveling exhibitions, answers some questions about \u201cDa Vinci\u2019s First Flight,\u201d<\/a> which features more than 30 large-scale replicas of da Vinci\u2019s flying machines, including a life-sized hang glider. The hands-on exhibit also includes notes by Da Vinci about his inventions.<\/p>\n

\""Da“Da Vinci’s First Flight,” designed and presented by the Artisans of Florence, is on view at the San Diego Air & Space Museum through Jan. 4, 2026. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)<\/p>\n

Q: The exhibition at the San Diego Air & Space Museum is quite impressive. How did Artisans of Florence end up bringing this exhibition to San Diego?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> We have discussed the possibility of creating this exhibition for many years \u2014 an exhibition which tells the true, forgotten story of Da Vinci\u2019s first flight in 1506. But it wasn\u2019t until 2022 while we were at the San Diego Air & Space Museum installing our \u201cGalileo: Scientist, Astronomer, Visionary\u201d exhibition that we got talking to our longtime friend and CEO of the Air & Space Museum, Jim Kidrick. We mentioned the project, and he thought it was a fantastic idea, so it was the San Diego Air & Space Museum\u2019s interest that was really the catalyst for the project, and we designed the exhibition with air and space museums in mind.<\/p>\n

\""Da“Da Vinci’s First Flight,” designed and presented by the Artisans of Florence, is on view at the San Diego Air & Space Museum through Jan. 4, 2026. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)<\/p>\n

Q: It\u2019s quite expansive, with intricate pieces and lots of amazing and surprising gems. How long was this exhibition in the works?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> It takes quite a few years to work with top Da Vinci scholars and our expert artisans to come up with a comprehensive, cutting-edge and fact-based exhibition, especially when you are challenging the accepted history of air-space discovery and invention. In fact, during our research, we discovered evidence that not only did Da Vinci\u2019s glider likely supersede the Wright brothers\u2019 first test flight in distance but also that he may have invented \u201cwing warping\u201d technology, which is still generally credited to the Wright brothers.<\/p>\n

\""Da“Da Vinci’s First Flight,” designed and presented by the Artisans of Florence, is on view at the San Diego Air & Space Museum through Jan. 4, 2026. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)<\/p>\n

Q: When you were putting this together, what were you hoping the viewer would take away from the exhibit?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> That da Vinci\u2019s studies into aeronautics and flight were far more advanced than we knew, and that he did indeed successfully test his flying machines in his own time despite living in a time when air travel was thought of as fantasy.<\/p>\n

Q: What do you think is the most surprising thing that a viewer will discover while walking through the exhibit, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> I think this exhibition really showcases the breadth of da Vinci\u2019s studies on flight. We have reconstructed the most comprehensive collection of Leonardo\u2019s flying machines ever built, which clearly demonstrates that the knowledge he developed over his lifetime was profound and foreshadowed many modern technologies such as the drone, parachute and helicopter.<\/p>\n

\""Da“Da Vinci’s First Flight,” designed and presented by the Artisans of Florence, is on view at the San Diego Air & Space Museum through Jan. 4, 2026. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)
\n\u2018Da Vinci\u2019s First Flight\u2019<\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> Through Jan. 4<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> San Diego Air & Space Museum, 2001 Pan American Plaza, San Diego<\/p>\n

Admission:<\/strong> $35 adults, $29 seniors 65 and up, students and retired military with I.D.; $22 children ages 3 to 11; free for children 2 and under, museum members and active-duty military.<\/p>\n

Phone:<\/strong> 619-234-8291<\/p>\n

Online:<\/strong> sandiegoairandspace.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\""Da“Da Vinci’s First Flight,” designed and presented by the Artisans of Florence, is on view at the San Diego Air & Space Museum through Jan. 4, 2026. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Curator\u2019s Words\u00a0is an occasional series that takes a critical look at current exhibitions through the eyes…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":416607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,171,1370,3549,3550,7264,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5548],"class_list":{"0":"post-416606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-county","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-things-to-do","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa","23":"tag-visual-arts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115642809933280018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}