'"Da Vinci Rising" takes place in Florence, Italy, during the 15th-century. Leonardo Da Vinci, the unprecedented inventor, painter, sculptor, and architect, has promised Lorenzo de' Medici that in two weeks' time he'll be prepared to launch his great "flying machine," an invention that will "carry man in the air like a bird. . . ." A series of mishaps, design flaws, and accidents send Leonardo and his apprentice, Niccolo Machiavelli, back into his studio to rethink and redesign his "Great Bird." When his device is perfected, it's put to use in ways Leonardo cannot control.'
Source: Strange Horizons (http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030901/jubilee.shtml). (Sighted: 1/7/2014).