Unlocking Mona Lisa's smile: Scientists believe DNA could prove identity of Da Vinci's model as ancient tomb is opened

Scientists are hoping to identify the model in Leonardo Da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa painting.

ITV News Europe Editor James Mates reports:

The family tomb of Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo in Italy was opened for the first time in 300 years for scientists to compare her sons' DNA to that of a skeleton found in the basement of a former Ursuline convent in July 2012.

The family tomb in the so-called Martyrs' Crypt behind the main altar of Santissima Annunziata church in Florence contains the remains of Gherardini's husband Franceso Del Giocondo and of their two sons.

Scientists will use DNA testing to find out whether the remains of a woman exhumed in an archaeological dig in a central Florence convent a year ago belonged to the beguiling model who sat for Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa portrait.

The true identity of Mona Lisa and her enigmatic smile have intrigued art lovers around the world for centuries.

The long-running hunt for the iconic Leonardo model culminated when researchers in Florence uncovered the base of a 15th-century altar in St Ursula, which they firmly believed would lead to the tomb containing the remains of Mona Lisa.

Researchers say Gherardini spent the last years of her life at the convent being looked after by her two daughters who were nuns, and was buried there.

According to the Louvre museum in Paris, where the painting is on display, the portrait was likely painted in Florence between 1503 and 1506 and could have been commissioned to mark one of two events: either when Gherardini and her husband bought their house or when their second son was born.

So now scientists believe the proof lies in the DNA.