Collegonzi

Leonardo gathered and studied nichi (fossilized seashells) “[…] in the cut in Gonzoli Hill carved out by the river Arno […]: in that cut one can clearly see the above mentioned strata of nichi in the light blue coloured mud, and one finds there various things of the sea […]” (Codex Leicester, f. 8B-8v).
This site located near Vinci, which later came to be called the “Spicchio quarry”, is not at present accessible.
Leonardo provided a scientific explanation for fossil-containing strata, one that anticipated the discipline of paleontology, and inveighed against the “sect of ignoramuses” who insisted that these deposits were laid down by the Great Flood