You know how several places in the North East of the States – through to Virginia – they advertise: “George Washington Slept Here?”. Well, there is a similar sort of thing going on in my area of Tuscany with Mona Lisa. You see, Monna Lisa lived in the Tuscan hills. (The French changed the spelling to ‘Mona’ at the Louvre – you know how the French are.) Leonardo painted her around 1503-06: no one knows the exact date. Her real name was Lisa Del Giocondo, and everyone here calls her “La Giocanda”. Many people who live in these hills claim the view in the painting is the view from the back of their own house. Several of these people claim it with all their heart. The king of France “Acquired” the painting in 1517 and the Tuscans have not been happy about this ever since. As a matter of fact, it is nearly impossible to export any painting out of Italy these days…you must prove it is not a National Treasure to the Ministry of Belle Arte. They seem to want to keep their art at home rather than send it to foreign lands. Strange these Italians.
Oh. If you were to look past La Gioconda’s right ear…my apartment would be several meters in back of that little green shrub. So If I were to have used a set of good German binoculars and have looked out my terrace a couple of centuries ago, I would have seen Leonardo painting her…pretty good, eh?
