Leonardo da Vinci, 23, is accused of sodomy with a well-known local prostitute, Jacopo Saltarelli (17), who worked in a nearby shop. Leonardo is briefly imprisoned (perhaps just one night). But shortly thereafter, a new, similar accusation arrives, again of sodomy with Saltarelli, but this time, since there are no direct witnesses, the charge is dropped without consequences. Leonardo was attracted to men, both romantically and sexually, and doesn’t appear to have a problem with it, unlike Michelangelo Buonarroti. Leonardo, with his “male love,” makes it another element of his unconventionality, along with his left-handedness and his way of dressing and behaving.
