ROME, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Paris's Louvre Museum has turned down a request from Italy to borrow the Mona Lisa, saying the iconic painting is too fragile to survive the trip.

According to local news agency Adnkronos, the Italian National Committee for Historical, Cultural and Environmental Heritage and the Province of Florence had jointly appealed to display the world's most famous painting in 2013 at Florence's Uffizi Gallery "to mark the 100th anniversary of its recovery following one of history's most famous art thefts."

The masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci was briefly displayed in Florence and Rome in 1913 after being recovered in Florence two years after it was stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian museum employee who thought the work should be returned to Italy.

That was the painting's last appearance in Italy and one of only three times it has been displayed outside of the Louvre.

"This is not a declaration of war against France. It's an appeal aimed at collaboration," said Silvano Vinceti, head of the committee leading the campaign.

"The Gioconda (the Italian name for the painting) has left the Louvre museum three times. It can do so again," Vinceti said.

But the Louvre responded quickly in a statement Friday, saying the painting was "extremely fragile" and to make the 1,100-km trip was "absolutely unimaginable."

The committee meanwhile is conducting an archeological dig searching for the remains of Lisa Gherardini (1469-1542), who is widely thought to be the subject of the portrait.