At the end of July 2012, Italian archaeologists found in Florence the remains that are most likely to belong to Lisa Gerardini. It is this aristocrat, the wife of the rich silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, who is the very mysterious model who posed for Leonardo da Vinci. The great painter painted with her a picture of Mona Lisa.
The archaeological campaign to search for the remains of "Mona Lisa" was led by artist biographer Giuseppe Pallanti. In 2007, he published a book in which he claimed that the female model of Mona Lisa was buried in Florence. Recently it turned out that after the death of her husband, she went to the veil and went to the monastery of St. Ursula, where she lived until the end of her days. Lise Gerardini died in 1542 and was buried near the monastery. It was there that it was decided to look for her remains.
Excavations on the territory of an abandoned monastery, archaeologists led by Pallanti began in 2011. Then they had to overcome a rather thick layer of concrete laid recently, after it was decided to erect barracks on the site of the former monastery. The hard work of archaeologists paid off handsomely. Having overcome the concrete layer, at a depth of one and a half meters, scientists came across a crypt in which a human skull was found, as well as fragments of the spine and ribs. Experts conducted a radiocarbon analysis and found that these remains date back to the 18th century. Therefore, they cannot belong to the model of a great artist. Excavations were soon stopped due to lack of money.
They resumed in June 2012. Already in July, the team of Giuseppe Pallanti at the opening of the next burial in the monastery of St. Ursula managed to find a well-preserved skeleton, which, most likely, belongs precisely to Lisa del Giocondo. In order to unconditionally state this, it is necessary to wait for the verdict of specialists who must carefully study the skeleton and check its age.
All necessary studies will be carried out by the University of Bologna. In particular, scientists plan to do a genetic analysis: they intend to compare the DNA of the found skeleton with the DNA of the remains of two children of Lisa del Giocondo. Where they are buried, it is absolutely certain. The children of Mona Lisa rest in the basilica of Santissima Annunziata. In 2011, their remains were already exhumed for taking DNA.
Excavations in the monastery of St. Ursula should be completed in September. The examination will take about four months. The final results will be known only by the beginning of 2013. Scientists also plan to conduct a physiognomic face reconstruction of Mona Lisa on the skull and verify portrait similarity. Perhaps, during the modeling process, it will be possible to solve the mystery of the Mona Lisa smile.
