The John Cadel Art Gallery in the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia recently welcomed a model of a catapult that was designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Local artists and engineers Matthew McKee and Jonathon Boley built the catapult for exhibition at the third annual One Book, One Village series at the Arlington Heights Library in 2016.

There is no record the catapult was built during da Vinci’s lifetime, but the design appeared in his notebooks. The model took 160 hours to build and is held together with dovetail joints and dowels. Casa Italia supporter and volunteer Frank Cesario purchased the catapult from the Arlington Heights Library and donated it to the collection at Casa Italia.