Single Page Synopsis
Set against the splendour and corruption of Renaissance Florence, The Secret Behind The Smile is a sweeping historical drama that reveals the hidden emotional story behind Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest masterpiece — the Mona Lisa. Woven around known facts, all dates, characters, events and locations are as accurate as history will allow. It is, though, an original dramatic interpretation and where necessary some characters and certain events have had to be assumed.
The story begins in Florence in 1473 at the annual Regatta del Palio,
where the cruel and ambitious Bastiano falsely accuses an innocent
old woman of witchcraft, after being rejected and publicly humiliated
by her daughter, Aragona Farnese. Thanks to the intervention of
Lucrezia del Caccia - the woman who would become Lisa’s mother - the
old woman’s life was saved. She gives Lucrezia a Cornicello
necklace, a traditional charm passed from mother to daughter
that is said to protect the wearer from the ‘evil eye’, and makes a
solemn promise that Lucrezia’s kindness would one day be repaid.
Exposed before the powerful Medici family, Bastiano is imprisoned
and subsequently banished from the city, swearing revenge against
Aragona and all connected to her.
Thirty years later…
Leonardo da Vinci has returned to Florence with his household and
his loyal but reckless apprentice Salai. Brilliant, charismatic and
dangerously impulsive, Salai has been with Leonardo since he was
ten, and has grown up to become the object of Leonardo’s unspoken
love — a love forbidden in the world they inhabit. At that time
Salai teases but doesn’t respond, although they do become lovers
when they are older.
Struggling financially,
Leonardo reluctantly accepts a commission to paint Lisa Gherardini,
the young wife of wealthy merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Both
Leonardo and Salai are captivated by Lisa’s beauty and spirit, and
during the long portrait sittings Salai and Lisa fall passionately
in love.
But Salai is already
involved in a secret affair with the aristocratic Aragona, now
trapped in a loveless marriage to the powerful Ludovico Orsini.
Unknown to them all, Bastiano has also secretly returned to Florence
- obsessed with taking his revenge. Manipulating events with the help of
Niccolò
Machiavelli’s scheming brother Totto, he sets out to expose Aragona
and destroy her life.
As the portrait progresses,
tensions rise within Leonardo’s studio. An overly possessive
Leonardo recognises the growing attraction between Salai and Lisa,
and fears disaster. Meanwhile Bastiano and Totto gather evidence of
both illicit affairs, using blackmail and intimidation to tighten
their control.
Leonardo tries to help but
eventually Lisa and Salai realise that there is nothing they can do
to prevent their relationship being exposed. They make a plan to
secretly flee Florence together, but Totto’s manipulation brings all
the characters together for a final confrontation with Lisa’s
husband Francesco inside Leonardo’s studio.
As all is about to be revealed to Francesco, Aragona recognises the Cornicello that a tearful Lisa is wearing and, although upset at Salai’s deceit, in an act of sacrifice she chooses to honour her mother’s promise. She protects Lisa by claiming that it is her, not Lisa, that Salai is leaving with. An enraged Totto stabs Aragona before escaping into the shadows of Florence. Aragona dies in Lisa’s arms.
A devastated Leonardo abandons the commission and decides that the portrait will never be delivered to Francesco del Giocondo, insisting that Salai and Lisa must part forever. The painting remains with Leonardo for the rest of his life, becoming not merely a portrait, but a permanent reminder of forbidden love, guilt, sacrifice and tragedy — the true secret behind the smile that would captivate the world for centuries.