Even more than 500 years since its creation, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “Mona Lisa” continues to fascinate and puzzle people. And despite centuries of research and examinations, the piece is still surrounded by mysteries.
Now, geologist Ann Pizzorusso, believes she has solved one of those mysteries. According to her, she believes she had found the place shown in the background of Mona Lisa’s enigmatic subject.
While attending a geology conference in the small Italian town of Lecco, Pizzorusso notices that the landscape is strangely similar to the Mona Lisa’s background. After doing further research while relying on her expertise in geology, she matched Lecco’s 14th-century Azzone Visconti bridge, Lake Garlate, and the surrounding mountain range with the bridge, lake, and mountains shown in the painting. She also discovered in Da Vinci’s notes that the artist was known to visit the region.
“When you look at the Mona Lisa, you see this part of the Adda River, and you see another lake behind it, which is perfectly shown underneath these sawtooth mountains,” Pizzorusso said in an interview with Reuters.
While some experts supported Pizzorusso’s claims, others flat-out rejected them. The former say that da Vinci painted the background from his imagination and that it doesn’t represent a specific place.