Mission Accomplished

We're at the airport waiting to fly home. I'm just going to close with this photo of us and Celestina and the plaque we arranged to be put up on her father's birthplace. What began 30 years ago with a sentence I read in a book, ends in Dumenza with a sentence I put on a wall.

THE END

The shoot is over and as far as I'm concerned the film is basicaly complete. I got the resolution that 32 years ago I could never have imagined. In a town where there is a marble carved quote from Mussolini, there is nothing commemorating the existence of Vincenzo Peruggia. So Justine and I had a plaque made, we presented it to Celestina yesterday and we put the plaque up today on the house where he was born. The daughter of the man who stole the Mona Lisa thanked me, thanked Justine for all we've done for her father's memory and then we went back to her home where we had cake and wine and sat and talked like family with Celestina, her son Silvio, his wife Sara, Celestina's daughter Graziella, her husband Sergio, Celestina's husband Amaletto, our cameraman Fabio Pasini (who's very proud that he's now on Facebook) and our Producer Letizia Rubino (who was up to 1 am helping Fabio get on Facebook)..

I am drained, exhausted but extremely, extremely grateful to everyone who has worked on this project, consented to be interviewed, given us help or just good wishes. Celestina said that she's closing the book and will not give any more interviews. The book is closing for me too.

I have set out what I wanted to do -- to understand the man who stole the Mona Lisa. Now with more that 80 hours of video to whittle down to an hour and a half, the next year of my life is pretty much mapped out.

There are still a few loose ends to tie up, some leads to follow and some people to get on tape but for right now, I am done. Photos will follow when I get some energy back into this 57-year-old aching body.

DUMENZA ETC

I realize that I have been remiss in my blogging but there's just not enough time in the day. In the choice between shooting, then downloadng, then preparing to shoot for the next day, sleeping and eating and sometimes showering -- I can't seem to find the time or energy to recap the day's event. But as far as the highlights: we were alone in the UFFIZI GALLERY in Florence where we saw where the MONA LISA was displayed. We got into a prison cell at the MURATE where Peuggia was held. We visited his room in the Hotel Gioconda -- Justine and I even spent the night. The big score was at the archives where we saw PERUGGIA'S LETTERS and other correspondence, including the letters to and from Alffredo Geri -- the art dealer to whom he offered the Mona Lisa. We're now in Dumenza and will be seeing Celestina Peruggia this afternoon.

RESTED AND READY TO ROLL

We have a great place in Florence. It's HUGE! And quiet. Letizia arrived after her plane was three hours late. She met Fabio in Parma and they drove here together. We just had a home-cooked spaghetti dinner -- Justine cooked and the Italians thought it was good. Tomorrow it's off to siena for an interview. Monday we do the Uffizi Gallery and then Tuesday we're back up north to Dumenza.

Here are some pix: Our place here. A comparison of Peruggia's room now and in 1913. M. Delieuvin from the Louvre and the 4 of us at dinner. (Not in that order)

OFF TO FLORENCE

There's a truck outside our hotel window that's been pumping sewage out of a building since 5 am. (Or maybe pumping sewage into it, I don't know.) Every night starting at 3 am, there's parade of vehicles outside our window doing things that involve clanging and banging and rolling things like an army of skateboarders on cobblestone streets. So as you can see, I'm somewhat sleep deprived but everthing is going well otherwise

On Wednesday, we traveled around the 10th Arondisment where Perggia lived. We happened to run into a woman who lived in the building that he did and in fact, his room is her bedroom in this reconverted flat. She let us up there to shoot. Lucky break.

Yesterday we went to the station at 5:30 am for a train to London. (That's where I found out that the Phillies won). We shot three interviews and we got back to Paris at 11 PM. We're packing now to fly to Florence so I don't have time to elaborate.

Remind me to tell you how I caught a pickpocket trying to lift my wallet on the metro.

ALONE WITH MONA

I'm too exhausted to make this long but we spent the day on the Louvre with no one else there but the security guards and the cleaners. We walked as much of the route of the theft as they let us -- with construction and security issues. Silvio Peruggia, the thief's grandson stood in for his grandfather and walked through the salons. What a day.

A VERY SUCCESSFUL DAY 2

Excellent day. Two fantastic interviews: one with Pierre Daix who was a friend and biographer of Pablo Picasso. The other with Jerome Coignard who wrote the definitive non-fiction book on the theft of the Mona Lisa. On a vole La Joconde. It's in French so I haven't read it. But eh had a lot of good things to asy. We also visited the Louvre archives, thanks to the kindness of M. Vincent Delieuvin, the conservator of paintings.
Fabio our cameraman came in from Italy as did Vincenzo Pegrugia's grandson Silvio and our Italian translator Violetta. We have lots of pictures and more to report but I have to catch a cab and join everyone else at a restaurant for dinner.

TOMORROW -- ALL DAY AT THE LOUVRE. IT'S TUESDAY AND THE MUSEUM IS CLOSED EXCEPT FOR US!

DAY 1 FINI

After a mediocre night's sleep in our too-small room, we hit the streets to get some b-roll of the Eiffel Tower which is just a couple blocks from our hotel. The Paris Marathon was going on which just proves that Parisians are just as nuts about running as Americans.



Our production liasion Anne Clement and her husband Rick (who's Dutch) came about 2 pm and took us to the cemetery which Vincenzo Peruggia used to be buried. We saw his name in the register, saw where his grave used to be and saw the pit where they put all the bones from graves that no one paid the upkeep on. we figure that Peruggia was there 5-10 years after he died in 1925 then someone else got the grave.



Tonight, we had drinks and dinner wih Anne and Rick and our Senior Researchers Meredith Tolan and Stephane Dichamp. Meredith and Stephane live in an apartment literally acorss the street from the Louvre. We met Meredith this summer in Margate (she's a Philly girl who lives in Paris). This is the first time we met her boyfriend Stephane. They're both really into the project and will be with us tomorow and Tuesday when we go to the Louvre. Hopefully the French will let us in. You can never tell.

It's 10 after 12 and I gotta get up early in the morning. We're interviewing a friend of Picasso.

It's 2 hours till the Phillies-Dodgers game but I'll be asleep. Someone email and tell me how they did.

7:30 PM IN PARIS IN THE CAR STUCK IN TRAFFIC

We've arrived. Just got our luggage and passed through customs. It's night in Paris. We just left Charles de Galle airport and are in a van on our way to the hotel. Uneventful flight. No knee damage this trip so far although I did get a wicked Charley Horse when I was sleeping and had to jump out of my seat.

We're now stuck in traffic. The driver just told us it's traffic for the soccer game. Ah, just like LA. Except no one goes to see soccer. Of course, here thy call soccer football. But hen no one goes to see football either.

8:50 PM We're at the Airport

We're here in the lounge killing an hour and a half until our flight to Paris. This is Justine's 2nd time at the airport today. She had to come here at 3 pm to get the camera gear to clear customs. Our friend and house contractor Rafael Aritzia kindly drove her. She went back to the kids' house in LA to wait for me and we both got here about an hour ago. We had no problems checking in or clearing security. (How did THAT happen?)

We're eating cheese and crackers in the business class lounge I asked Justine to pour me vodka on the rocks. She gave me mostly rocks.



The flight leaves at 11:15 and we get into Paris at 6:45 PM so tomorrow's a wash. Sunday we scout around and shoot b-roll aound the city and then meet up with our Production Liason Anne Clement and go to the cemetery in Paris where our thief Vincenzo Peruggia was buried. don't know if his body's still there but we're going to look. Maybe I'll bring a shovel.

We hope to also eat a lot of food, drink a lot of good wine and shoot a lot of good images for the film. Maybe I'll even get a full glass of vodka.

My one regret: I'm going to miss the Phillies play the Dodgers in the NLCS. They're up by 2 games and my son's going to see them on Sunday. Go Phillies!

Happy Birthday, Vincenzo

Today is the 127th birthday of Vincenzo Peruggia, the man who stole the Mona Lisa. He was born on this day in 1881 in Dumenza, Italy. He was the third of six children born to Giacomo and Celeste Peruggia.

Coincidentally, he also died on his birthday -- October 8, 1925 at the age of 44. He dropped dead of a heart-attack as he was arriving home to his wife Annunciata and their 1-1/2 year old daughter Celestina. Annunciata's birthday was also October 8.