Archeologists will resume the search for the remains of the
noblewoman who posed for Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa masterpiece 500 years
ago.
Florence province, owner of the site that once was the convent of Saint
Orsola where Lisa Gherardini was buried in 1542, has requested that the search
continue.
Archeologists in May 2011 thought they had found her remains when they
located a grave containing a woman's skeleton.
Da Vinci's masterpiece of the wife of wealthy silk merchant Francesco del
Giocondo hangs behind bulletproof glass at the Louvre museum in Paris. Most
modern historians agree that the lady with the famously enigmatic smile
depicted in the Mona Lisa was del Giocondo, who became a nun after her
husband's death.
She died in July 1542 at 63 years of age.
