Emily Chan
There are many unanswered questions surrounding Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. For instance, the identity of the woman depicted in the painting has long been a subject of debate among experts, along with the meaning of her smile and the location of the landscape she is posing in.
The landscape behind her has remained a mystery for centuries, its vagueness fueling speculation over whether it was a real place or an entirely fictional one.
Now, a historian and geologist named Ann Pizzorusso believes that she has identified the location of the background in the painting.
Pizzorusso claims that the setting is Lecco, a small town in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. According to Pizzorusso, the body of water is Lake Garlate, and the bridge that is seen above the left shoulder of the woman in the painting is the 14th-century Azzone Visconti.
She came to the conclusion after analyzing the rock formations and other features in the art piece. The rock formations resemble the limestone formations in Lecco.
Some experts have argued that the Mona Lisa was created in a town in northern Italy called Bobbio or someplace in the province of Arezzo.
One Italian art historian asserted that the painting’s background was of the Tuscan village, Laterina, and the bridge was the Ponte Romito.
However, Pizzorusso says that these ideas neglect to take the artwork’s rock formations into consideration.
“The arched bridge was ubiquitous throughout Italy and Europe, and many looked very similar,” she said.
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