Undersecretary Vittorio Sgarbi investigated for theft of cultural property

Undersecretary Vittorio Sgarbi investigated for theft of cultural property

Investigated for theft of cultural property. Undersecretary of Culture Vittorio Sgarbi ends up in the investigation into the theft of a work by the artist Rutilio Manetti, stolen from the Buriasco Castle in Piedmont in 2013 and reappeared in 2021 as “unpublished” owned by Sgarbi. According to the undersecretary, the work was found by chance in Villa Maidalchina, purchased in 2000 by his mother Rita Cavallini. The investigation was revealed by Il Fatto Quotidiano, which told the story of Manetti's painting with Report.

The file, opened by the Imperia prosecutor's office, derives from another investigation for “illicit export of works of art” and was sent for jurisdiction to the Macerata prosecutor's office, because the undersecretary is domiciled in San Severino Marche. The related case concerns a factory in Correggio used to “clone” works of art, where several copies of Manetti's “The Capture of Saint Peter” were also produced.

According to Il Fatto, it is not excluded that the file could be transferred to another prosecutor's office and that the registration changes, if the aggravating circumstance of the association is recognized and that the main hypothesis is extended to other crimes, such as counterfeiting and receiving stolen goods and fraud. The first relating to the hypothesis of having modified the 17th century painting in order to make it appear different from the one stolen in 2013 from the Castle of Buriasco. The second for not having exhibited the original in 2021.

“No inconsistencies. No reply. The investigations are carried out by the judiciary, to which alone, faced with the evidence of the facts, corrupted by two journalists, I am ready to respond”, Sgarbi declared to Adnkronos, after the investigation broadcast on Sunday by “Report” on the work by Manetti stolen in 2013. “It is their defamatory activity, suspicion is their weapon,” said the undersecretary. “Mine are the unequivocal investigations carried out on the painting, which they don't know about”.

The Carabinieri of the Heritage Protection Unit listened as people informed by the facts of the two entrepreneurs of the Correggio factory, the G-Lab, who, commissioned by Sgarbi, created the reproduction of the painting. Looking at the photos of the painting exhibited by Sgarbi in Lucca, they recognized a defect in the setting of their machine, which left five parallel lines. The undersecretary declared that the copy was made “for the communication of the Lucca exhibition, which offers large reproductions for the outside”.

Speaking on “Quarta Repubblica”, the undersecretary rejected any hypothesis of resignation: “I don't even think about it”, he said. “There is no mystery, there are two paintings,” added Sgarbi. “That stolen painting is described by the superintendency as a reproduction, a bad copy of the original that was in the Vatican”, he stated, “The one I found in a villa is the original”.