You really, REALLY need to read Some Touch of Pity. I swear, that book is the reason I fell in love with Richard.

Da Vinci is that it is. Really, I make no distinction between something like Kushiel, which operates off of a similar premise, and Da Vinci, because in my mind, they're equals. Da Vinci is nothing but fiction from start to end, and it really is disturbing that people take it at face value.