Bottega di Leonardo

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The Bottega di Leonardo was the workshop of the famed Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci, where he would often design and build his inventions, as well as decode pages of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex at the request of his friend, the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore.

Throughout the years, Leonardo relocated his operations from Florence to Venice, then Rome; however, the workshop would maintain its appearance and purpose.

Locations

Florence

"Maestro Leonardo was commissioned by a Venetian noble to paint some portraits. He paid for the Maestro to move his entire workshop to Venezia. It's quite an opportunity!"

―Ezio being informed of Leonardo relocating his workshop, 1480.^[src]^-[m]

Shortly after completing his apprenticeship under Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo established his own workshop in the center of Florence. There, he created commissions for the local townspeople, one of whom was Maria Auditore. Through her, Leonardo became acquainted with her son, Ezio, who became his good friend and would frequent his different workshops in later years.^[1]

After Ezio's family was executed on false treason charges in 1476, Leonardo once hid him in his workshop, while he in turn went to intercept the guard searching for him.^[1]

Aside from painting and design, Leonardo also studied human anatomy. He stored and dissected bodies in his workshop, which the city often sent him for research. Because of this, Ezio was once able to hide a guard he had killed in Leonardo's residence.^[1]

This studio was where Leonardo first received and decoded a page of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex, with which he repaired Ezio's Hidden Blade. Through other pages, he also constructed upgrades for it, including a second blade and an adaption that delivered poison.^[1]

Leonardo also allowed Ezio to practice with his Hidden Blade in the courtyard next to the workshop; instructing his assistant at the time, Vincenzo, to set up dummies for him to use. Leonardo eventually left his workshop in Florence in 1480, after receiving a commission from a Venetian noble, and relocated to Venice.^[1]

Venice

"And now, I present to you, your workshop, Ser da Vinci! We spared no expense in its design! You'll see it is perfect; as if you never left Firenze!"

―Alvise da Vilandino welcoming Leonardo to his new workshop, 1481.^[src]^-[m]

Upon his arrival and subsequent tour of the city by Alvise da Vilandino, Leonardo was introduced to his new workshop. Alvise commented that it would be "as if he never left Firenze," and indeed, the building and interior were nearly identical to his workshop in Florence.^[1]

Leonardo continued to decode Codex pages for Ezio in this workshop, where he built the Hidden Gun upgrade for the Hidden Blade. As well as this, he also improved the design of his Flying Machine, which allowed Ezio to fly over Venice to the Palazzo Ducale.^[1]

In 1488, after retrieving an Apple of Eden from Rodrigo Borgia, Ezio took it to Leonardo's workshop. There, he, Leonardo, Mario Auditore, and Niccolò Machiavelli attempted to discover its purpose, but were ultimately unable to do so. Ezio and Niccolò thus decided to entrust the Apple to their ally, Caterina Sforza, while Mario invited Leonardo to visit the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni.^[1]

Leonardo decided to accept Mario's invite and relocated to Monteriggioni, where he continued to decode Codex pages brought by Ezio. Despite having abandoned his Venetian workshop, rumors later began to circulate that Leonardo used it as a secret retreat, returning to it repeatedly during his life.^[1]

Rome

"I intended to accompany you to the docks, but we cannot leave my workshop without my assistant."

―Leonardo to Ezio, 1506.^[src]^-[m]

In 1499, after being forcibly recruited by the Papal Captain General Cesare Borgia, Leonardo began to design weapons and war machines for the Borgia forces. As such, by 1500, he had relocated his workshop to Rome. He remained there even after Cesare's fall from power in 1503,^[2] and spent the following few years studying Pythagoras and the Pythagorean Temple, as well as working on his latest painting, the Mona Lisa.^[3]

In 1505, during his work on the Mona Lisa, Leonardo was visited at the workshop by Ezio, though he failed to notice him enter due to being focused on his painting. Ezio had come to inform Leonardo that he had thwarted an attempt on his life by mercenaries hired by Pope Julius II, but ultimately decided against disturbing his friend's work and left without saying a word.^[4]

In 1506, Leonardo was kidnapped from his workshop by the Hermeticists, who also ransacked the building's room in search of his map to the Temple of Pythagoras. During the ordeal, Leonardo managed to leave a clue for Ezio to find him by writing on the floor of the workshop.^[3]

During their attempts to find the artist, Ezio and Leonardo's assistant Salaì used his workshop to store the da Vinci paintings that they recovered, as well as search them for clues with Ezio's hidden talent.^[3]

Trivia

The memory "Ace Up My Sleeve" in Assassin's Creed II was the first time that Ezio entered one of Leonardo's workshops.
In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio was able to enter the workshop during the Cristina memories that took place in Florence.