Mystery of Where Mona Lisa was Painted Has Been Solved

The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy
The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy
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Mystery of Where Mona Lisa was Painted Has Been Solved

The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy
The painting’s bridge, lake and rocks might have finally identified the landscape. Photograph: IanDagnall Computing/Alamy

A geologist and Renaissance art historian is claiming to have solved the centuries-old debate on the location of the Italian landscape behind Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Ann Pizzorusso, the author of the 2014 book “Tweeting Da Vinci,” is claiming she cracked the case, The Guardian reported.

In her expert opinion, Leonardo portrayed parts of the city of Lecco, on the shore of Lake Como in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, in his 16th-century masterpiece.

Pizzorusso claims she pinpointed the bridge, mountain range and lake featured in the painting’s background as Lecco’s Azzone Visconti bridge, built in the 14th century, the Alps which overlook the area and Lake Garlate, located south of the city.

Leonardo is known to have visited the area about 250 miles north of his home region of Florence about 500 years ago.

“I’m so excited about this. I really feel it’s a home run,” Pizzorusso told The Guardian.

She credited her knowledge of both geology and art for the findings, saying, “Geologists don’t look at paintings and art historians don’t look at geology.”

Using her knowledge of rocks, she also identified the greyish-white ones in the artwork, which was painted between 1503 and 1519 and now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, as limestone, which is prevalent in Lecco.



New Searches Underway in Portugal Near Where Madeleine McCann Disappeared in 2007

 A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
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New Searches Underway in Portugal Near Where Madeleine McCann Disappeared in 2007

 A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)
A Portuguese official during a search operation in a vast area between the cities of Lagos and Praia da Luz for Madeleine McCann, in Lagos, Portugal, 03 June 2025. (EPA)

Police investigating the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann searched near an abandoned rural building in southern Portugal on Tuesday as they launched fresh probes near the holiday resort where she was last seen 18 years ago.

The case received worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings of McCann occurring as far away as Australia, while books and television documentaries were produced about her disappearance.

German investigators and Portuguese police officers and firefighters were searching in the countryside several miles from the Praia da Luz resort, where the 3-year-old disappeared from her bed while on vacation with her family on May 3, 2007.

The teams were seen using pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws to clear dense vegetation and dig near a derelict building. Firefighters pumped water out of a well.

Almost two decades on, investigators in the UK, Portugal and Germany are still piecing together what happened on the night the toddler disappeared. She was in the same room as her brother and sister — 2-year-old twins — while their parents, Kate and Gerry, had dinner with friends outside.

Portuguese police said Monday that detectives were acting on a request from a German public prosecutor as they carry out “a broad range” of searches this week in the area of Lagos, in southern Portugal.

The main suspect is a German national identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.

He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but hasn’t been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of the child’s disappearance. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

The last time police resumed searches in the case was in 2023, when detectives from the three countries took part in an operation searching near a dam and a reservoir about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the resort.

McCann's family marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance last month, and expressed their determination to keep searching.