Mona Lisa, painted near Lake Como – Italy

The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, and the most parodied work of art in the world”

Now, Geologist and art historian Ann Pizzorusso has identified the landscape portrayed in the Mona Lisa as the area around Lecco, a city near Lake Como in Lombardy, Italy.

Basing his theory on detailed observations, Pizzorusso highlights three key elements: the similarity between the painting’s landscape and the geography of Lecco, the depiction of the 14th-century Azzone Visconti bridge, and the rock formations of the Alps that match those depicted in the background of the work.

These clues suggest that the landscape in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting could be inspired by a region he knew personally.