Aug. 9 - It will be one of the main events if the Year of Italian Culture in the US, the "Birds' Flight Code" written in 1505 by Leonardo da Vinci will be on display for forty days in Washington, at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian (13 September - 22 October). "A great part of the population has never seen Leonardo's original composition - commented the Museum's director, Gen. JR Jack Dailey - Because the Code was only exposed once in the US before, and given that it rarely leaves Italy, we feel particularly lucky of being able to show it in our Museum." "Bringing the Code to Washington this year, when we're celebrating our culture and 50 years of collaboration between Italy and the US in the space program, meand creating dialogue between the Renaissance and modernity, tradition and innovation," added the Italian Ambassador, Claudio Bisogniero, underlining how "there could not be a more ideal place than the Smithsonian to host such a unique work, dedicated to the science of flight,menabling viewers to admire Leonardo's scientific genius."

A MANUSCRIPT FOR VIRTUAL VIEWING

Da Vinci's Code on Birds' Flight will be on display in a case designed specifically for the occasion, located in The Wright Brothers' and the Innovation if the Age Gallery. The exhibition funds its center in the Wikbur Wright's Flyer, the first engine airplane invented. Interactive spots will allow visitors to virtually go through the Code's 18 pages; while the document itself will be lent by Turin's Regal Library to the Air and Space Museum. An 'ornitottero', a plane that gains height by batting its wings, will also be on display at the entrande of the exhibition. The model is based on one of Leonardo's designs in Manuscript B, folio 24, owned by Paris' Insitut de France, and it has been donated by Finmeccanica to the American museum. The exhibit was organized by the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Culture Ministry, the Italian Embassy in the US, and the Regal Library of Turin, and is supported by Finmeccanica, The Bracco Foundation and Tenaris.