Augusto Marinoni (Legnano, 15 June 1911 – Legnano, 31 December 1997) was professor ofromance philology at theUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore ofMilan, a member of theCommissione Vinciana and theAccademia dei Lincei. He is considered one of the greatest scholars ofLeonardo da Vinci.^[1][2]

After completing his classical studies, he enrolled at theUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore where in 1933 he obtained a degree inLiterature andPhilosophy.^[3] Thanks to the study inlexicography, begun during the preparation of the thesis and continued later, Marinoni was able to identify the genesis, which has its roots in theMiddle Ages, of thedictionary.

In 1936 he obtained a chair of Italian and Latin at the Vittorio Veneto High School in Milan. In these years he began studyingLeonardo da Vinci, thanks to his knowledge in the lexicographic field. His work in fact initially focused on the eight thousand words contained in theCodex Trivulzianus, and the result of his studies was published byGiovanni Treccani while Marinoni was a prisoner of war (1943-1946) following his participation in theWorld War II on thefront of the North Africa.^[3] He resumed his studies on Leonardo in 1952, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the genius from Vinci. Thanks to the quality of his work, he received the applause of the adherents to a congress of Leonardo scholars that took place in Paris in the same year.

In 1958 he was appointed dean of theliceo scientifico of Legnano.^[3] Two years later, thanks to Marinoni's initiative, in Legnano aliceo classico with gymnasium was opened in Legnano. Also in 1958 he began to collaborate with the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, where he taughtromance philology until 1981.^[3]

In 1968 he was appointed byGiuseppe Saragat,President of the Italian Republic, member of the Ministerial Commission for the edition of the Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci.^[3] In this commission Marinoni worked on the study, translation and description of the Vincian codes preserved in Italy, namely theCodex Trivulzianus, theCodex Atlanticus and theCodex on the Flight of Birds.^[3] Thanks to this immense work, Marinoni published from the seventies all 14 volumes of the codes in question.^[3]

In 1972 began the cooperation with Ladislao Reti on the transliteration of theCódices Madrid I-II, discovered in the Spanish capital. In 1974 he dealt with the dissemination of these codes, which were published in seven languages by MacGraw Hill.

Thanks to the quality of his work, Marinoni is considered the greatest connoisseur of thephilology ofLeonardo da Vinci and the greatest expert of the philosophical and scientific thought of Leonardo. Marinoni continued his studies on Leonardo da Vinci and continued his popular activity, also holding seminars in various European and world cities. In 1982 he published a synoptic on the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci namedTavola dei Codici Leonardeschi where Marinoni highlighted Leonardo's debt to the mathematicianLuca Pacioli and the copy of the treatiseDe ponderibus written byBlasius of Parma.^[4]

Many companies, such asPhilips andIBM, helped publish his work and many world-class cultural institutions invited him to hold seminars and meetings. We owe to Marinoni the creation of the first CD-ROM with multimedia content on Leonardo da Vinci. He studied and in 1977 disclosed the contents of theCodex Forster, preserved at theVictoria and Albert Museum inLondon, and of theCodex Ashburnham, kept at theInstitut de France inParis. In 1982 he was appointed president of theCommissione Vinciana Authority of Milan, which still brings together the greatest Italian and foreign scholars of Leonardo da Vinci.^[3] Among the awards he received, theHammer "for excellence", obtained by theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, in 1987, should be mentioned.

Augusto Marinoni also studied in depth thehistory of his city, Legnano, andhis dialect.^[3] The municipal library of Legnano is named after Augusto Marinoni, which is housed inside Villa Bernocchi.^[2]

• Leonardo the Scientist. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1980. (WithCarlo Zammattio andAnna Maria Brizio)ISBN 0070727236

• (In Italian) Gabriella Ferrarini, Marco Stadiotti,Legnano. Una città, la sua storia, la sua anima, Telesio editore, 2001.