text: who can name leonardo da vinci's two lovers? 10  points if you get both! gian giacomo caprotti da oreno, nicknamed salai or il salaino and count francesco melzi~both of these relationships follow the pattern of eroticized apprenticeships which were frequent in the florence of leonardo's day, relationships which were often loving and not infrequently sexual.  besides them, leonardo had many other friends who are figures now renowned in their fields, or for their influence on history. these included cesare borgia, in whose service he spent the years of 1502 and 1503. during that time he also met niccolò machiavelli, with whom later he was to develop a close friendship. also among his friends are counted franchinus gaffurius and isabella d'este, whose portrait he drew while on a journey which took him through mantua.