On map RLW 12278 and in Madrid Ms. II (f. 23r) Leonardo indicates the "Certosa" (Carthusian Monastery) di Galluzzo above Monte Santo (in the past, Monte Acuto), at the confluence of the Ema with the Greve.

This is one of the most important religious and artistic centres in the vicinity of Florence, founded in the 14th century at the initiative of Niccolò Acciaioli, who was also the Grand Seneschal of King Robert of Naples.

Appearing as an industrious citadel of faith, the Certosa contains various cloisters, halls, a refectory, the monks' cells, a pharmacy, a library and, since the 20th century, a picture gallery.

Here are found works by such artists as Pontormo, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, Lucas Cranach, Mariotto Albertinelli, Andrea and Giovanni Della Robbia, Francesco Granacci, and Benedetto da Maiano. In addition, there is the tomb of Leonardo Buonafé, Camarlingo of the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova at the time of Leonardo, attributed to Francesco di Giuliano da Sangallo.

Leonardo drew the hills north of Florence on folio 20v of Madrid Ms. II, indicating Monte Ceceri, Fiesole and Monte Morello. The latter rises to a height of over 900 metres above sea level, beyond the Mugnone; from its slopes springs the Terzolle stream, mentioned by Leonardo on folio 23r of the same Madrid Manuscript.

Fiesole, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city situated 295 metres above sea level, is mentioned in the "Codex on the flight of birds" and in Ms. G by Leonardo, who had also purchased here two plots of farmland with a stone quarry near the Oratory of Sant’Apollinare.

Monte Ceceri (414 metres above sea level) is recalled by Leonardo in the "Codex on the flight of birds" in relation to his prophecy on human flight: «The great bird will take its first flight from the back of Monte Cecero, filling the universe with stupor, filling all writings with its fame and bringing glory to the nest in which it was born». Legend has it that the flight attempted by Zoroastro, taking off from this hill, ended in a disastrous fall.

On folio 17r of Madrid Ms. II, Leonardo draws a landscape of the Florentine hills around Villamagna. In particular, he indicates the top of a hill by the name "L’Incontro".

Here, in a panoramic position overlooking Florence and the Valdarno (559 metres above sea level), a Franciscan monastery has stood since the 18th century.

On folio 17v of Madrid Ms. II, Leonardo draws in sequence the hills to the south of Florence from Monteoliveto to Bellosguardo as far as Montici. Lower down he indicates "Pitti", very probably the Villa di Rusciano, built by Brunelleschi for Luca Pitti, recalled by Vasari as a «rich and magnificent palace».

Monteoliveto is the hill at the gates of Florence, just outside San Frediano, where in 1472 the church of San Bartolomeo with its monastery was enlarged and remodelled in Renaissance style. In 1867 the Annunciation, formerly attributed to Domenico Ghirlandaio and today attributed by most critics to Leonardo, was taken from here and transported to the Uffizi.

In the church is a Last Supper by Sodoma, a follower of Leonardo.

Leonardo portrays with special evidence the tower of Bellosguardo, which formed part of the castle owned by the Cavalcanti and the Capponi families. It stands on the hill of the same name at 130 metres above sea level. Villa Le Lune, or Villa dello Strozzino (a Renaissance building owned by the Strozzi) is also found on this hill.

In the vicinity of Arcetri, on the street that, from Torre del Gallo, crosses Pian dei Giullari and descends to the Villa di Rusciano, at 204 metres above sea level, stands the fourteenth-century church of Santa Margherita a Montici, with its bell tower (stenographically sketched by Leonardo and emerging in the landscape of the Val d’Ema). In the church are works of art by the Master of Santa Cecilia and Andrea Sansovino. The locality of Montici appears again on folio 21r of Madrid Ms. II, where it is shown in a dominant position overlooking the valley of the Ema.

On folios 18v and 19r of Madrid Ms. II, Leonardo draws the Florentine hills on the left bank of the Arno and indicates two localities: Rusciano and Paradiso.

The former corresponds to the area occupied by the Villa di Rusciano (indicated on f. 17 of Madrid Ms. II by the name "Pitti", having been built by Brunelleschi for Luca Pitti), by the Bisarno and the sandbank shown on maps RLW 12679 and 12680.

The latter is also indicated on folio 23r of the same Madrid Ms. II. At the foot of the hill known as "del Paradiso" stands what was in Leonardo's time the monastery of San Salvatore and Santa Brigida. It consists of an extension of the villa called "Paradiso degli Alberti", which was the seat of one of the most important circles in the early days of Florentine humanist culture.

In the Paradiso Chapel are noteworthy cycles of frescoes from the late 14th century. Further up, on Via Fortini, is the Romanesque church of Santa Maria e Santa Brigida al Paradiso, recorded in 1181 as Santa Maria degli Scalzi, then "di Fabroro", and as "badiuzza a Moccoli"; lower down, still on Via del Paradiso, is Giovannozzi's nymphaeum in the Villa Bandini.