Since the years of his youth, Leonardo had shown special interest in hydrogeological problems. His genius found expression in study of the motions and force of fluids, the engineering of water pumps and sluices for governing watercourses, the currents that drive mills, and many other fields. It is almost inevitable to think that the Arno represented for him the supreme challenge in the field of hydrogeology. Born not far from that river which, in fifteenth-century Tuscany, constituted a vital thoroughfare of traffic and commerce, Leonardo went so far as to conceive of straightening and channeling its course to stimulate economic development in the entire region.

His boundless inventive capacity even led him to consider the river as a powerful strategic means. For this purpose he hypothesized deviating the Arno to deprive Pisa of its vitally important waterway.