As we move gradually into the 2020 celebrations for Raphael's quincentenary, Leonardo da Vinci fans can still catch the exhibition Leonardo e I suoi Libri (Leonardo and his Books), held in the historic Biblioteca dell'Accademia Nazionale dei Linceie e Corsiniana situated in the grounds of the Villa Farnesina, Rome.Leonardo was of humble origins and he himself declared that he was unschooled. He suffered from the fact that he did not read either Latin or Greek, seeing this as a real handicap for his development. Despite his lack of the standard formal education for the time, he was an avid reader and a collector of books. During his period in Rome, he is known to have possessed some two hundred books on all kinds of subjects. Initially these were in volgare (the Italian of the time) but gradually he began to teach himself Latin, as demonstrated by the vocabularies and grammatical texts in his collection.The Leonardo and his Books exhibition has only one book that was certainly used by the maestro. Visitors can see the Trattato di Architettura e Macchine by Francesco di Giorgio, from the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, in which Leonardo has scribbled autographed notes. However, all the other books in the exhibition come from the Leonardo period and were certainly consulted, if not directly owned by him. The Galileo Museum of Florence is responsible for the multimedial installations that allow visitors to leaf virtually through the texts and manuscripts.A fascinating addition in the adjacent Palazzina dell'Auditorio is the recreated Leonardo workshop, set up with his desk, paintbrushes and shelves with rows of little bowls of the kind of pigment he would have used.  The exhibition is open every day from 10-19 (last entry at 17.00) until the 12th January 2020.