Identifying the mysterious bridge in the Mona Lisa painting

Italian historian reveals secret about bridge that appears in Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece Mona Lisa .

Mona Lisa painting. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons).

Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings in the world, full of mysteries and theories. Silvani Vinceti, an Italian art researcher and historian, said he has solved the secret of the bridge behind the woman.

Previously, the bridge behind Mona Lisa's left shoulder was believed to be Ponte Buriano , located near Laterina (Italy). Another hypothesis is that it is Ponte Bobbio in the city of Piacenza, Northern Italy.

Vinceti used historical documents and drone images to compare the painting with real photos. He revealed that the bridge painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the Mona Lisa masterpiece is the Romito Bridge in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany (Italy).

Romito Bridge today. (Photo: Google Earth).

The key detail for Vinceti to identify the bridge was the number of arches. The bridge in the painting has four, as does Romito. However, today only one remains of Romito. While Ponte Buriano has six, Ponte Bobbio has more than six.

The bridge in the picture has four arches. (Photo: Wikipedia Commons).

The Romito Bridge was a shortcut between Arezzo, Fiesole and Florence at the time, making it a busy area. Vinceti also found documents proving that Leonardo was in Fiesole with his priest uncle at the time, which lends credence to his claim.

He also identified the location where Leonardo painted the bridge as the Punta Caianello hill, and he claimed to have found steep cliffs appearing on the left side of the painting.