Historian claims to have located mysterious bridge in Mona Lisa backdrop

A historian has claimed to have located the mysterious bridge behind Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa - and it is not the one people think it is.

As one of the most famous artworks in the world, a centuries-long debate surrounding the location painted behind the model has taken place between historians and local Italians.

The town of Buriano, in the Tuscany region of Italy, is so convinced the bridge behind Mona Lisa is their Ponte Buriano that they've made it a key feature of their local tourism campaign and even included it on the town's welcome sign.

But now, a new town is celebrating a claim to the artwork.

A historian named Silvano Vinceti has come forward to tell the world that the bridge behind Mona Lisa is, in fact, the Romito Bridge in the nearby Tuscan town of Laterina.

"The distinctive form of the Arno (River) along that stretch of territory corresponds to what Leonardo portrayed in the landscape to the left of the woman depicted in the famous painting," Mr Vinceti said at a media conference at the Foreign Press Association in Rome on Wednesday.

Mr Vinceti also made a virtual reconstruction of the bridge to show the similarities and drew on documents from the state archives in Florence.

How has Mr Vinceti reached this conclusion?

The crucial detail for Mr Vinceti and the location of the bridge is its number of arches.

The Mona Lisa was painted in the early 16th century, and he found that Da Vinci lived with Cardinal Cesare Borgia near Laterina between 1501 and 1503.

The bridge near Da Vinci in Laterina was in use and had four arches - as shown in the artwork.

But the Buriano bridge has six arches, Mr Vinceti noted, while Ponte Bobbio, a bridge in Piacenza that some say features in the painting, has more than six arches.

The Romito bridge linked Arezzo, Fiesole and Florence but is now in ruins.

Vinceti said he studied drone images of the river banks, the ruins and photographs over the years to determine that the "Etruscan-Roman Romito bridge is unmistakably" the one in the background.

The mayor of Laterina Simona Neri said the theory has prompted a lot of excitement for her town of 3,500 people.

“We need to try to protect what’s left of the bridge, which will require funding,” she said.

But the claim might bother the locals of Buriano, who could be forced to change their welcome sign.

“There’ll be some rivalry; we’ll need to put a poster up, too,” Ms Neri joked.

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