Leonardo da Vinci It started long ago as a little boy. I discovered I had many unique talents. I was born in the small town of Vinci, in Tuscany, near Florence of Italy in the year 1452. I was the son of a wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant woman. When we moved to Florence, in the mid-1460s, I was given a wonderful education. I was a fine musician and improviser. But in 1466, I began painting. Painting became one of my beloved hobbies and it started to become my life. Andrea del Verrocchio, a leading Florentine painter and sculptor took me under his belt. In Verrocchio's workshop I was shown many activities and paintings from altarpieces to panel pictures. In 1478,