The Italian news agency ANSA reports that an Italian scholar has determined that the subject of one of the world’s most famous paintings — Mona Lisa — was buried in the Convent of St. Orsula in Florence.
“I’m sure her tomb is in there,” Leonardo scholar Giuseppe Pallanti said Thursday. I’ve pored through thousands of archive pages and I’m convinced the remains of Leonardo’s model Lisa Gherardini was buried there.” The building is no longer a convent and in very bad condition. According to the article, “most modern scholars have agreed with Pallanti that the Mona Lisa sitter was Lisa del Giocondo (her married name).”
Several years ago, I visited Vignamaggio (a hotel and wine estate; my article is here) where Lisa Gherardini a.k.a Mona Lisa was reportedly born in 1479.