The Sculptors of Speed and Leonardo da Vinci’s Dream

From May 24 to June 28, the Carriage Gallery of Palazzo Medici Riccardi will host the exhibition “The Sculptors of Speed and Leonardo da Vinci’s Dream”: a journey through more than 500 years of Italian art, ingenuity, and automotive excellence.

Curated by Mauro Bertoli, Stefano Lazzeri, Filippo Francioni, and Vincenzo Iannelli of Scuderia Belle Curve, in collaboration with ModenArt by Jean Marc Borel, the exhibition explores the evolution of Italian craftsmanship — from Renaissance workshops to the master metal shapers who transformed Ferrari, Maserati, and Shelby Cobra models of the 1950s and 1960s into true works of art.

At the heart of the exhibition is the prestigious ModenArt Collection, featuring fifteen unique handcrafted pieces. The journey begins with a Renaissance armor crafted by Florentine artisans and continues with the famous self-propelled cart by Leonardo da Vinci, faithfully reconstructed from the drawings in the Codex Atlanticus. Also on display is the first internal combustion engine, patented in Florence in 1853 by Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci.

The exhibition also highlights Modena’s “filoni” technique — iron wire frameworks used by legendary coachbuilders Scaglietti and Fantuzzi to hand-shape racing car bodies, turning craftsmanship into art.

The exhibition is completed by a selection of collectible model cars and artworks by Enrico Ghinato, Roberto Baronti, Marco Collini, Alessio Vignozzi, and Car Model Sculptures.