Reams have been written about the Mona Lisa, as the painting is called by the British and Americans, and the Gioconda, as it is known to the Italians and French. But less known are the events, affections and social relations that took place in the life of Leonardo's presumed model for the painting. She was a young woman from Florence, already the mother of several children, generous and "noble in spirit", according to her husband. For centuries, as the Florentine art historian Giorgio Vasari claimed, the Mona Lisa was considered the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, but the theft of the painting from the Louvre in 1911 and the press campaign that followed ended by bringing the identity of the woman into question, fueling a debate that is still ongoing. The account and documents referred to in this book clarify the question, as a result of which it is difficult not to side with Vasari's suppporters that the lady in question was actually Mona Lisa Gherardini. The main characters in this story are Lisa, her husband Francesco and Leonardo da Vinci. The setting is Renaissance Florence, a city still rich and home to cultural and artistic movements of international renown. The book is in two parts: the first tells the political and cultural history of Florence; the second is a small fresco of life in the city, in which the lives of Lisa Gherardini and Francesco del Giocondo cross with those of other famous Florentines.--Back cover.