One night in 1519, a messenger from Cardinal Albornoz arrives at Cantelmo Castle in Rome to tell the old Duke, who is intently studying one of Leonardo Da Vinci?s drawings of the wings of Icarus, that his son is dead. Leaving the castle?s great hall, the old man throws himself from the balcony into the night air, falling hard upon the courtyard below. Then a slouching youth exits the same castle, now dilapidated and run-down. After walking down a squalid street full of garbage, he enters a small store and offers the owner some insignificant antiques in exchange for groceries. The date is May ?85 and the youth is ?Giovanni No-Thoughts,? the last, flighty descendant of the Cantelmos. He lives in one of the castle?s little attic rooms thanks to the mercy of two elderly servants, the gruff Teresa and the sweet Letizia. One day while rummaging around a more substantial antique?a type of reading-desk?searching for something to barter with at the grocer?s, he sees a small, aged manuscript fall to the ground, the value of which he ignores for the moment. When he discovers the beautiful Claire sunning herself on the balcony, he rips off a page of the manuscript for use as a paper airplane thrown onto the balcony to attract her attention. The woman absent-mindedly notices the piece of paper: she is a foreign researcher who for some time now has been uselessly searching for Da Vinci?s manuscripts, only to be surprised the next day with the discovery of an authentic page by Leonardo between her fingertips. Claire, having decided to make the remainder of the manuscript her own, accepts Giovanni?s courtship and starts renting a few of the castle?s rooms for an illustrious commemoration. Giovanni sells some of the castle?s objects and furniture so he can buy a suit and a car in Claire?s honor. However, the castle?s owners?a group of clergymen that allow Giovanni to occupy a few of the castle?s rooms?notice the missing items and seek justice. During a disastrous walk along the rooftops, Giovanni discovers the walled-in wings of Icarus, constructed by one of his ancestors following Da Vinci?s drawings. To escape capture he puts them on. He then sets himself free in a panoramic flight over Rome, oblivious to the schemes and affairs of common mortals.