The author captured the feeling of being a foreigner in a place which you intimately know very well. It is a feeling many of us get after visiting our childhood home town, after many years of absence.

The Last Leonardo: The Secret Lives of the World’s Most Expensive Painting – a non-fiction book about da Vinci’s painting: Salvator Mundi, sold for $450 million

Leonardo da Vinci is more than a painter, engineer or weapon smith, and in this excellent biography Walter Isaacson tries to figure out this complex genius.

The untold weirdness of history’s greatest geniuses. Laugh & learn with 30 mini-bios that humanize these larger-than-life figures. Perfect for teens and adults

As governor of the province of Garfagnana, it is said that Ariosto was walking alone when captured by bandits (the province was rife with many gangs of bandits, but as governor Ariosto did not get the resources to fight them). When the chief bandit discovered his captive was the author of Orlando Furioso, he apologized and showed him the respect he deserved.