The French ambassador said that the recent diplomatic crisis between Italy and France -- which came to a head earlier this year when Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio of the populist Five Star Movement held a controversial meeting with the Yellow Vest protesters in France, prompting Italy's neighbor to recall its ambassador for a brief period -- is over.

"These joint celebrations are a symbol of the closeness that exists between our two countries and our two cultures, because we are two countries of great culture, which have fed one another through the centuries," Masset said.

The French ambassador went on to say that Leonardo joined "science with feeling, rigor with humanity" and his philosophy led to "an idea of progress that is based on respect for nature and for knowledge."

"Leonardo was a model and remains a model for the 21st century," Masset said. "He was open to the world and to others. As Leonardo used to say: the one who listens has more than one brain -- his own, and that of others."

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