Mona Lisa is a real Lisa

Nat King Cole sings about her

Mystery solved: the true identity of Mona Lisa.

Mona Lisa is "undoubtedly" Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, according to Veit Probst, director of the Heidelberg University Library.

Conclusive evidence came from notes written in October 1503 in the margin of a book.

Descendent Natalia Giucciardini Strozzi just smiles.
Photo and interview. Photo with her sister, scroll down.

Lisa del Giocondo has her own Wikipedia article.

The portrait's Italian (La Gioconda) and French (La Joconde) titles are Lisa's married name as well as nickname - in English, "jocund" or the "the happy one."

Mona Lisa in The Louvre

Mona Lisa's smile: sfumato

Best seen with peripheral vision