Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli: Super Villains of the 1500's

One was the artist/inventor/scientist/all-around genius who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper as well as perhaps the greatest creative minds in history. The other was the writer/philosopher/evil mastermind who helped invent modern political science. And together they tried steal a river. No this isn't the setup for some dated sitcom this actually happened. Well almost. Machiavelli hired Da Vinci to use his genius to steal a the Arno river from Florentine rival, Pisa.

The river that got away.

Da Vinci would have irrigated the entire Arno River Valley with canals, locks and dams, rerouting all the water directly to Florence and hanging Pisa out to dry. Literally. Sadly, the plan was too amazing for 16th century technology.The channels dug to divert the river were far too shallow. As they were trying to make the channels deeper, a storm destroyed its walls, killing some of the workers and inciting others to get out of the henchmen racket. This failure stayed with Da Vinci his entire life and even made it into the background of the most famous painting in the world.