After Vincenzo Peruggia was arrested in Florence for trying to sell the Mona Lisa to art dealer Alfredo Geri, the police raided his family's home in Dumenza, Italy. A number of letters and postcards that he had written to his father were seized by police as evidence. We found many in the Italian archives. Vincenzo Peruggia who'd been in Paris a little over a year wrote this postcard on this day in 1909. It deals mainly with money that Peruggia was trying to send home and also concern for his younger Ernesto's working situation. We don't know where Ernesto was working or what he was doing, but oldest brother Vincenzo didn't seem pleased.
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| Giacomo Peruggia, Vincenzo's father |
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| Ernesto Peruggia, Vincenzo's youngest brother |
Dear father,
The other day I received your dear letter and I feel that you all are in good health; my health is fine too.
As of what you told me, you can count on me too. I will send you a good amount.
As for brother Ernesto, I don't like the job he's got; I would be happy if he was waiting tables if not working in the kitchen.
My address is "Rue des Recollettes 27" and "Rue Vinaigriers 37".
I am sending you all a kiss. Your loving son Vincenzo
We think that a relative of Peruggia owned a restaurant which had an apartment above it at 37 Rue Vinaigriers and Peruggia spent his time between there and a hotel on Rue des Recollettes.
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| Rue des Recollettes |
We tried to find 37 Rue Vinaigriers but that doesn't exist. It jumps from 34 to 39. We talked to a shop owner who said that during World War I, the Germans had been given orders to bomb Paris but they couldn't bring themselves to destroy the more beautiful parts of the city so they dropped their bombs on the area around Rue des Vinagriers.
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| Rue des Vinaigriers |
I stumbled on a photo of the police investigating outside 39 Rue des Vinagriers after one of the bombings.
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