When new findings identified Leonardo’s model as Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, award winning author Diane Hales was intrigued and set out to reconstruct Lisa’s life, taking a journey throughout Italy--to archives and libraries, piazze and palazzi, abandoned chapels, and fairytale castles. Hales’s Italian knighthood (granted for her previous book La Bella Lingua) gave her unfettered access to archives and experts, including Lisa’s last living descendants. The result of her extensive research is a blend of biography, history, and memoir that introduces us an enigmatic woman who lived during Florence’s golden age.
Dianne Hales is an award-winning author who has served as a contributing editor for Parade, Ladies Home Journal, Working Mother and American Health, and has written for numerous national publications including Glamour, the New York Times, Psychology Today, the Washington Post, among other well-known publications. Her books include La Bella Lingua, Just Like a Woman and Caring for the Mind. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter.
Co-sponsored by Humanities West and Leonardo da Vinci Society
Meet the Author(s)
