Brushes with genius

We all hope that a little bit of genius will rub off somehow, but you can increase the chances of it happening by going to places across Italy that are associated with some of the greatest men that ever lived.

Christopher Columbus
Although the great explorer was more associated with Spain, he is widely accepted to have been born in Genoa. The record books are very sketchy on the details, but Columbus is thought to have been born into a middle-class weaving family in 1451. He would go on much more expansive voyages later, but as a boy he worked on merchant ships sailing from Genoa, back when the city was a major maritime power.
Even though he wasn’t there for long, Columbus can be found all over the city. There are busts at the railway station, the airport, the Palazzo Reale and the Castello d’Albertis, a fresco on the Palazzo di San Giorgio, a pensive statue at the Liceo Cristoforo Colombo and a rather more glorious one on the giant monument in Piazza Acquaverde.

Rather more bizarre is the sole house standing on its own near the Porta Soprana. Its neighbours have long been knocked down, and it is covered in creeping plants that look strangely like a haircut. This is allegedly the Columbus family home, although you’d be advised to take this with a fistful of salt. You can go inside, where it has been decorated with ‘authentic’ memorabilia, for a small fee.

Leonardo da Vinci
The clue really should be in the name, but Leonardo da Vinci wasn’t actually born in Vinci, the small town between Prato and Pistoia, just west of Florence. The humble birthplace was even smaller – a farmhouse in the village of Anchiano which can still be visited today.

To all intents and purposes, though, Vinci was his home town. He was baptised in the town church (again, you can see the baptismal font), and grew up there. Whilst his art can be seen in galleries all over the world, the museum dedicated to him in the 12th century Castello dei Conti Guidi (00 39 571 6055) explores his scientific side. Over three floors, there are scores of weird and wonderful contraptions that the local boy invented. If doesn’t take long looking around to realise that his thoughts and ideas have had an astonishing impact on life today.

Alessandro Volta
He may not be a celebrated as many other great scientists and inventors, but where would we be without Volta’s invention, the electric battery? Since it was dreamed up in 1800, technology has moved on in almost unthinkable bounds, yet the basics of the battery are the same. Whilst the average laptop is now more powerful than the computer used to fire man to the moon, nobody has ever really managed to improve on Volta’s effort.

His home town was Como, which in 1927 erected a temple in his honour. The neoclassical stylings of the building on the shore of Lake Como look somewhat out of place, and it’s ironic that something so old-fashioned is devoted to someone whose life’s work was improving the future, but never mind. The Tempio Voltiano (00 39 031 574 705) houses a highly impressive exhibition on the Como physicist’s life and work.

Galileo Galilei
Few people did more to further the cause of astronomy, and indeed science, than this Pisa-born genius. He didn’t actually invent the telescope, but improved it to such an extent that it was workable, and then set about demonstrating many of the things we know about the universe today.

He started off at Pisa’s famous university, but was later poached by bitter rival Padua. Both establishments predictably cite him as their most celebrated alumnus, however, and depictions of the great scholar can be found all over both. Pisa is also home to the Domus Galilaeana, a study and library dedicated to the man who invented the thermometer.

He had houses in Florence, Pisa and Padua, but the pick of the bunch is in Arcetri just south of central Florence. This is where he was put under house arrest after refusing to renounce that the earth goes round the sun, and he later died there. 100 metres away from the house is one of the world’s most important astronomic observatories, which was sited there in his honour.

Giuseppe Garibaldi
While to generations of Britons he is largely known as the inspiration for a popular biscuit, in Italy Garibaldi is a national hero. He led many of the battles that eventually led to the unification of Italy, having decided at a young age to dedicate himself to the cause.

He was actually born in Nice, which was given away to France during his campaign, but his impact is marked across the country.

Marsala in Sicily should be the first port of call, as it was also Garibaldi’s. This is where his army of a thousand won their first battle on the way to taking Sicily and moving north. You’ll not be able to escape the Garibaldi factor there but to really lap him up, you need to head to the Costa Smeralda in Northern Sardinia. Following the unification, Garibaldi picked out little Isola Caprera as his home, and ensured that the surroundings were suitably fit for a hero. Compendio Garibaldi is open for visits, and you have to get there via the causeway linking it to Isola della Maddalena.

Other places with links to other people who changed the world

San Remo: Villa Nobel in the Ligurian city was the home of the man who created the Nobel Prizes, Alfred Nobel.
Venice: The composer of the Four Seasons, Vivaldi, was the concert master at the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà near the Arsenale.
Ravenna: The tomb of Dante Aligheri can be found by the Chiesa di San Francesco. He wrote most of the Divine Comedy in Ravenna, and references to the city are peppered throughout.