Lisa Gherardini

Hello. My name is Lisa Gherardini, and I want to tell you my story. I was born a very long time ago on June 15th, 1479. I grew up in a beautiful city in Italy called Florence. It was a wonderful place to live. Florence was full of amazing artists who created incredible paintings and sculptures. The city also had so many beautiful buildings, with grand towers and lovely bridges. It was a very busy and exciting place, and I loved watching all the talented people create beautiful things. I feel very lucky to have grown up in such a special place.

I spent my whole life in my beloved city of Florence. When I was a young woman, I got married to a kind merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. He was a good man, and we had a happy life together. Our family grew, and we had five children who brought us so much joy. Because my husband's last name was del Giocondo, many people in our town started calling me Lisa del Giocondo. It was a happy time for us, living and working in the busy city of Florence with our family.

Around the year 1503, my husband, Francesco, had a wonderful idea. He wanted a special portrait of me, so he asked a brilliant artist named Leonardo da Vinci to paint one. Leonardo was one of the most famous artists of all time. For the painting, I had to sit very still for a very long time, which wasn't always easy. Leonardo worked on my portrait for many years. He paid special attention to my gentle smile, trying to make it look peaceful and a little mysterious. That painting became very famous, and it was called the 'Mona Lisa'. In Italian, 'Mona' is a short way of saying 'My Lady,' so the name means 'My Lady Lisa'.

I lived a full and happy life in Florence. I lived to be 63 years old. Even though that was hundreds of years ago, my story didn't end there. The portrait Leonardo da Vinci painted of me became one of the most famous paintings in the entire world. Today, millions of people from all over the globe travel to a museum in Paris, France, just to see my portrait. They look at my gentle smile and wonder what I was thinking. In this way, I have become a small part of history forever, and my smile is still shared with the world.