An Italian official in Milan has called for France’s Louvre Museum to temporarily return Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to Italy as the museum faces concerns of disrepair and appeals for renovation.
Francesca Caruso, the regional assessor for culture of Italy’s Lombardy region, called for the famed painting—known in Italy by the name La Gioconda—to be returned in a post made to social media over the weekend, writing, “We are ready to welcome her.”
Caruso spoke further about her proposal in an interview with the Sunday Times of London, stating that the Renaissance master “represents Italian genius.”
“Milan would be the ideal location to display the work,” Caruso said. Leonardo, though not from Milan, had a significant connection to the city and lived there for 17 years upon the invitation of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Caruso’s invitation came after the French newspaper Le Parisien leaked a memo in which the Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, complained to French Culture Minister Rachida Dati that said the museum’s facilities were reaching a “worrying level of obsolescence.”
Des Cars warned Dati in the January 13 memo that the collections of the famed museum were being shown in spaces that were “no longer watertight” with “worrying temperature variations,” that might endanger the works.
The museum director pleaded with the Culture Ministry to take action, blaming the toll the institution’s status as the most popular museum in the world has taken on it. Some 8.7 million people visited the Louvre in 2024.
The Louvre museum in Paris, France. Photo: Oscar Gonzalez / NurPhoto via Getty Images.
The Louvre is located in 12th century fortress that also houses famed art historical works including the Venus de Milo, Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa, and Eugène Delacroix’s recently restored Liberty Leading the People. But even the glass and metal pyramid in the museum’s main courtyard have been raised as points of concern.
After the document leaked, the Elysee Palace said that French President Emmanuel Macron would visit the museum Tuesday.
While France has spent fortunes on restoring the fire-damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral and renovating the Centre Pompidou, the Times reported that fixing up the Louvre would come with a €900 million ($944 million) price tag, with €400 million ($419 million) just to renovate the room housing the Mona Lisa.
Caruso’s appeal also comes months after Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass promised to help Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano secure the return of the painting.
“I and Italy can join together to return Italy’s stolen artifacts,” Hawass told Italian news agency ANSA. “[The Mona Lisa] is the most important thing. It has to come back to Italy.”
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa. Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images.
The painting is believed to depict Lisa del Giocondo, the rich wife of a silk merchant who commissioned the painting in 1503. However, Leonardo is not believed to have completed the painting before leaving Florence to live the last three years of his life in France under the patronage of King Francis I.
At some point, the Mona Lisa entered the collection of King Francis I, presumably as a gift to Leonardo’s new patron, and thus become the property of the state of France. But Italians have long called for the paintings return to Italy, including an incident in 1911 when artist named Vincenzo Peruggia stole it and later claimed his actions were patriotic.