The exhibition - set up in the Treasure room of the Castello Sforzesco, in the places that Leonardo saw during the years of his stay in Milan - intends to retrace the essential phases of the formation of the genius of Vinci through the analysis of his writing, which constitutes a mirror capable of to faithfully give us back, on closer inspection, the fundamental components of a personal culture developed between the family environment, apprenticeship in the shop and attendance of the courts.

The public is invited in the exhibition to observe and compare Leonardo's graphic experience - thanks to the presence in the exhibition of the Trivulziano Code and of the 170 sheet of the Atlantic Code preserved by the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - with significant contemporary graphic attestations.

A section is in fact dedicated to professional and workshop writings, such as the 'mercantesca', of which Leonardo's hand maintains significant distinctive features. Another section is dedicated to the humanistic writings used in the book production for the courts, with specific reference to the graphic culture of the Sforza environment with which the genius of Vinci was in contact for many years during his stay in Milan.

A special focus is reserved for Leonardo's habit of tracing letters specularly with respect to the normal practice of writing - a contextualized theme in the exhibition with reference to other 15th and 16th century testimonies.

In fact, the "left-handed letter" also recurs in the successful calligraphy manuals of the sixteenth century. To the ancient xylographic writing manuals - preserved in Trivulziana and in

Collection of “A. Bertarelli ”- a specific space is also reserved in a section dedicated to the sixteenth-century standardization of late medieval and humanistic writings.