Leonardo scrisse la scienza naturale, la astronomia, le habitudini degli animali, la geografia, la lista continua...

Comincerò a tradurre per te:

Leonardo’s writings are voluminous and cover so many different topics. I will translate some of them from time to time into a more contemporaneous reading. You can contact me for the original renderings.

«La Donnola»

Quest’animale, trovando la tana del basilisco, l’uccide coll’odore dulla sua urina sparsa. Ma l’ordore della quale urina uccide spesso la donnola stessa.

“The Weasel”

This animal, finding the den of the basilisk, kills it with the odor of its spilled urine. But often, the smell of this urine kills the weasel itself.

«Il Pittore»

Un pittore fu domandato perché faciendo le figure che erano così belle ma cose morte, faceva i suoi figli così brutti. A questo il pittore rispose che le pitture erano fatte di giorno, e i suoi figli erano fatti di notte.

“The Painter”

A painter was asked why, having made paintings that were so beautiful but in essence dead things, he begat children that were so ugly. To this the painter responded that the pictures were made by day— in the light— while his children were made by night.

NB: In versione originale, Leonardo usa apparentemente "si" invece di "così".

Note: In the original, Leonardo apparently uses "si" instead of "così" to mean "so".