ITALY'S LISTED STOLEN TREASURES
The annual report “Arte in Ostaggio” (Art held in hostage”) issued by the headquarters of the special branch of the Italian carabiniere for the protection of cultural heritage (TPC), is now available online. The reports contains lists of the most important works that have been stolen or illegally smuggled out of Italy.
Detailed information and photographs of the art works in question are given to help international police and antique dealers to identify paintings, antiquities and objets d'art of dubious provenance.
Among the “Wanteds” listed this year are an oil painting attributed to Luca Giordano: “Santa Maria della Luce”, (Our Lady of Light) looted in 1971 from the Church of Santa Maria della Luce in the town of Mattinata in Apulia, a 4th century AD polychrome mosaic panel of a “Musiciolus” (a competition judge) lifted in the 1980s from the Roman baths in the archaeological area of Via Severino, Rome, and a 16th century oil painting of “The Visitation” by Claudio Ridolfi, stolen from a private house in 2018.
Thanks to the regular publication of these reports, 131 works of art have so far been recovered.
The lists can be freely consulted on the following links:
