Italians Are Angry As Croatia Claims Marco Polo

Italians are quite furious when they saw Croatia tried to claim the legendary explorer Marco Polo as one of their own.

It all happened when a museum dedicated to Marco Polo in the Chinese city of Yangzhou was opened not by Italian dignitaries but by a former president of Croatia - Stjepan Mesic.

It is said that the exact date and place of Marco Polo's birth are still unknown but most people believe he came from Venice. Some say he was born on the island of Korcula on the Adriatic coast, which is now known as Croatia.

This museum was built in Yangzhou because Marco Polo was an official there from 1282 to 1284. However, when Mesic inaugurated the museum he described Polo as 'a world explorer, born in Croatia who opened up China to Europe'.

Thus, this statement has led to an unpleasant situation. Italian publications have described this Croatian claim to be ridiculous and provocative.

Who Is Mona Lisa?

For many years, Italian researchers who solve art mysteries have now claimed that they have discovered who is the famous model  in Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Silvano Vinceti is the chairman of the Italian national committee for cultural heritage who said that Mona Lisa was actually a man and not a woman. He said that the model is in fact a male, named Salai who was an apprentice for Vinci. It is said that Salai worked with Vinci for 25 years and was his model and muse for various works of Vinci.

As per their claim and research there are many similarities between facial features of Salai as seen in other paintings of Vinci and the Mona Lisa.

 Salai as John the Baptist

Salai - Vinci's apprentice for 25 years

Moreover, Silvano Vinceti also said that Salai and Vinci were actually lovers and shared an intimate relationship. Perhaps, Mona Lisa was made only because of Vinci's inspiration for Salai. The research team also went on to say that Vinci also drew the letters L and S in Mona Lisa's eyes that could stand for Leonardo and Salai.

Experts at Louvre museum in Paris where the actual painting is on display say these claims by the Italian experts are quite ridiculous as this team don't even have the access to that painting itself. So people should not fall for what they say.

Well you can see closely the pictures for comparison as these are some of the famous pictures in which Salai posed. Mona Lisa always looked haunting to me. And those eyes that keep following you every where are quite scary. I feel it could be quite true what the Italian researchers are saying. There is far too much resemblance in Mona Lisa and John the Baptist (in which Vinci used Salai) paintings.