Mona Lisa link brings smile to Italian villagers
Crumbling bridge featured in Leonardo masterpiece could transform fortunes of quiet corner of Tuscany
‘There are plans for a hiking trail and bike path and the bridge could be a key feature’
THE mystery behind a stone bridge depicted in the Mona Lisa has finally been solved, with an art historian identifying it as a crumbling ruin on the banks of a river in Tuscany.
Drones and detective work were used to match the bridge featured in the background of Leonardo da Vinci’s mysterious portrait to a real one over the river Arno near the village of Laterina.
The structure was badly damaged, probably by flooding, in the 18th century and all that remains of the Romito bridge today is a single arch.
A digital reconstruction has shown it would have had four arches, just like the one in Leonardo’s painting.
On the opposite side of the riverbank, the foundations of what would have been the fourth arch can still be seen in the undergrowth.
The findings could transform the fortunes of tiny Laterina.
Simona Neri, the local mayor, hopes the discovery – if confirmed – will encourage tourism.
The claim about the bridge was made by Silvano Vinceti, a historian who has written several books about Leonardo.
He found a document belonging to the Medici family in the state archives of Florence, which attests to the fact the bridge at Laterina was intact and in frequent use when the artist was alive.
“We know he travelled through this part of Tuscany in the early 1500s – there is no doubt about that,” Mr Vinceti, head of the committee for the enhancement of historical, cultural and environmental heritage, told a press conference in Rome.
The bridge was positioned on a road that connected Florence to the north with the busy market town of Arezzo in the south.
In the past, it was suggested that Leonardo modelled the bridge in the Mona Lisa on a structure near the village of Bobbio or another in Buriano, both also in Tuscany. But Mr Vinceti pointed out that as those bridges had more than four arches, they did not match the one in the painting.
They also span flat ground, whereas the Romito was built between two steep cliffs, corresponding closely to the bridge depicted in the Mona Lisa.
The curve of the river in the painting also matches the curve of the Arno at the point where it was spanned by the bridge at Laterina.
“The bridge in the painting is neither the one at Bobbio nor Buriano,” said Mr Vinceti.
“We’re convinced instead that it is the one at Laterina. We have all the elements that point to this being the bridge portrayed in the Mona Lisa.”
He also dismissed suggestions that the bridge in the oil painting could have been a fictitious structure, saying: “He was well known for drawing very realistically. The bridge is real. It was not conjured from his imagination.”
Using drones to survey the countryside, Mr Vinceti believes he has identified the spot from which Leonardo painted the bridge – a hill called Punta Caianello.
He also claims to have identified the
sheer-sided cliffs that appear on the lefthand side of the Mona Lisa.
They closely resemble a cluster of eroded, clay pinnacles that exist to this day in the upper valley of the Arno, about 10 miles from the remains of the bridge at Laterina.
The idea that the bridge at Laterina could be the one painted by Leonardo was first mooted by a local community association called La Rocca. They brought in Mr Vinceti to investigate further.
Ms Neri told The Daily Telegraph: “There are plans for a hiking trail and
bike path along the Arno, so the bridge could be a key feature of that new route.
“We need to make sure the remaining arch is protected.
“It lies between two dams and, at certain times of year, there are very big flows of water on that stretch of the river.”
Ms Neri said that she expected a friendly rivalry to develop with the two other villages that claim to have the “real” Mona Lisa bridge.
“Of course! This is Italy – we are famous for our (parochial rivalry),” she said.