Researchers believe they may have uncovered the remains of Leonardo da Vincis most celebrated model: Mona Lisa. According to 16 th century art historian Giorgio Vasari, the woman with the enigmatic smile was Lisa Gherardini, third wife of the Florentine nobleman Francesco del Gioconda. Lisa died in 1542 at the age of sixty-three and was buried in the Convent of Sant 'Orsola in Florence. For the last month, archaeologists have been digging under the stone floor of the church crypt. They uncovered a series of empty tombs, as well as a male skull, until they came across a tomb containing the skeleton of a woman. In order to find out if these bones belong, in fact, to the Mona Lisa, however, carbon dating and DNA tests are to be carried out. Lisas children are known to have been buried in another Florentine church and their DNA can therefore be compared with that of the remains of the woman in the crypt. If they fit, a four centuries-long mystery will have been partially solved. It remains to be proved that Lisa Gherardini was, in fact, the real Gioconda.
