Leonardo spent a good part of his life at Vinci, where he was born, and in Florence, where he successfully practiced the art of painting (as exemplified by the cartoon for the Saint Anne in the Santissima Annunziata and the fresco of the Battle of Anghiari in Palazzo della Signoria), but he spent more or less long periods, either studying or working, in many other localities of Tuscany.

He was linked to Bacchereto and to Pistoia by ties of friendship and kinship, while projects and commissions kept him in the surroundings of Pisa and Cascina for long periods (plan for deviating the Arno) as well as Piombino, where he was at the service of Cesare Borgia and of Prince Appiani.

Some of his property was located near the centre of Fiesole, while he had usufruct of three farms in the vicinity of Vinci, left him by his uncle Francesco, in spite of the opposition of his half-brothers, the legitimate sons of Ser Piero.