state. In fact, a former employee of the
Louvre, Vincenzo Peruggia, a native of
Dumeath, a town near Luino, convinced
that the painting belonged to Italy and
therefore does not stay in France. He had
stolen it, shut themselves in a closet at
night and spent there the nigh left the
museum to walk away with the painting
under his coat: he himself had mounted
the glass case, so he knew how to
subtract . He left in peace: he also
required a plumber ‘s help to get out of
the museum. He took the wrong tram and
missed the stop, then opted for a more
comfortable taxi. He put the work into a
suitcase, placed under the bed of a
pension of Paris, he kept it for twentyeight months and then took it in his
country of origin in Luino , with the
intention to ” give it away to Italy “,
obtaining by some of the guarantees that
the framework would remain in his
country: in fact he believed, erroneously,
that the work had been stolen during the
Napoleonic pillage.
Naively in 1913 he went to Florence, to
resell the work for pennies. He turned to
the antique Florentine Alfredo Geri, who
received a letter signed “Leonardo” in
which it was written that “The picture is in
my hands, it belongs to Italy because
Italian Leonardo” with a proposal for a
return in the face of a ransom of 500 000
“ f o r e x p e n s e s .” I n t r i g u e d , o n 1 1
December 1913, the antiquarian made an
appointment accompanied by the director
of the Uffizi Giovanni Poggi. The two
realized that the work was not one of the
many fakes in circulation, but the original,
and if they did deliver to “verify their
authenticity.” Meanwhile, the Peruggia
went for a walk around the city, but was
tracked down and arrested. The thief was
described as “mentally handicapped” and
sentenced to a term of one year and
fifteen days in prison, later reduced to
seven months and fifteen days. His
defense was based on the whole
patriotism and eliciting sympathy. He
himself declared that he had spent two
years “romantic” with the Mona Lisa
hanging on his kitchen table. Taking
advantage of the friendly atmosphere
that then reigned in the relations between
Italy and France, the painting was
recovered performed throughout Italy:
first in the Uffizi in Florence, and then
finally to the French Embassy at the
Galleria Borghese, before it finally
returned to the Louvre.
Mona Lisa
arrived in France on a special wagon of
the Italian Railways, and then on to Paris
where it was awaited by the President of
the French Republic and the entire
government.
Surely the theft contributed to the birth
and feeding of the myth of Mona Lisa:
his image became decidedly collective
imagination.