February 5th, 2008
Smile, My Lady
About 3km south of Greve is Villa Vignamaggio , set amidst formal Italian gardens at the centre of a beautiful old estate founded by the Gherardini family in the fourteenth century. In 1479, Antonio Maria Gherardini celebrated the birth of a new baby, Lisa, at Vignamaggio. It seems that, around the age of 24, Lisa sat for a portrait by one of Tuscany’s most celebrated artists of the day, Leonardo da Vinci , shortly after her marriage to the wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The likeness famously captured the smile of La Gioconda, whose noble title was “Ma Donna Lisa” (”my lady”) - shortened to Mona Lisa .
Category: Florence - Firenze