Church of Santa Croce Vinci

The Church of Santa Croce, already existing since the 12th century, when the chapel de Vincio is mentioned in the documents of the episcopate of Pistoia, is the Vinci parish church that we see today in its neo-Renaissance appearance, after the restoration works carried out in the mid-20th century.

The ancient castle church of Santa Croce, at the time of Leonardo, was the parish church of the Vinci community which included the genius's family, that lived in the house located in the hamlet of the castle.

It is believed that right here, on April 16 1452, the parish priest Piero di Bartolomeo Cecchi baptised the newborn Leonardo da Vinci, as stated on the memory stone placed on the wall of the ‘new baptistery’: “Nachue un mio nipote, figliuolo di ser Piero mio figliuolo a dì 15 d’aprile in sabato, a ore 3 di notte. Ebbe nome Lionardo. Batezollo prete Piero di Bartolomeo da Vinci, […]” (My nephew, son of my son ser Piero, was born on Saturday April 15 at 3am. He was named Leonardo. The priest Piero di Bartolomeo da Vinci baptised him)
So reads the note written on the last page of a notary's register by Antonio da Vinci, Leonardo's grandfather, discovered in 1931 by the Reverend Emil Möller among the documents of the State Archive of Florence.

The Church of Santa Croce still retains the ancient baptismal font, which survived the transformations that completely altered the late medieval church of the time.
The font is now kept inside the Church in an evocative octagonal area, designed by Ugo Giulio Arata on the occasion of the Leonardian celebrations in 1952 and recently embellished with the metal alloy sculptures of the artist Cecco Bonanotte, inspired by the themes of Salvation.