Italy's newspapers on Thursday were full of a story about the "discovery" of a Mona Lisa, a replica of the world-renowned masterpiece in the Louvre, in the collection of the Italian parliament in Rome. News about the so-called Gioconda "hidden in storage in Montecitorio" spread quickly on social media, with a headline in La Repubblica claiming "It could be Leonardo".

"This is a copy of the painting in the Louvre made by Leonardo's workshop, perhaps even with his own collaboration," chamber of deputies commissioner Francesco D’Uva told La Repubblica. The story was reported by Il Tempo last December, and in recent days has been picked up by major news outlets in Italy, however in reality the painting has been known about for a long time.