Ed Tasca, the Ajijic-based author, playwright, actor and columnist for this newspaper, was in Italy June 26 for the presentation of the second edition of his book, “The Fables of Leonardo da Vinci.”
The setting for the book signing was the recently opened Leonardo da Vinci Museum in that famous city.
Tasca was there at the behest of “The Florence News,” an English-language newspaper that reviewed his book five years ago.
On the origins of the book, Tasca says,” Leonardo never finished anything. I found a list of interesting ideas in the back of his notebooks – one-line notes – and thought, these should be fables.” So he took the best ideas and came up with 18 fables and asked a friend to illustrate the book.
Almost five years after the Florence News reviewed “Fables,” the same editor contacted Tasca about a book signing at the new museum, put together by Gabriele Niccolai, a former furniture maker who constructed life-size models of most of da Vinci’s drawings and had been taking them around the world on tour for many years. Tired of hauling his exhibit around, Niccolai decided to put them in a museum in his home town.
Tasca said about 30 tourists, including one Mexican, showed up at the book signing. His book is now sold in the museum bookshop, and an Italian translation will soon be published.