An investigation by the Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit (TPC) in Palermo led to the recovery of artistic, archaeological, bibliographic, and archival assets with a total estimated value of approximately 400,000 euros. The operation also led to the identification of two individuals under investigation for the crimes of theft and receiving stolen cultural property.
The investigation, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Palermo, stemmed from complaints filed by a professional in Palermo’s antiquities sector, who in 2024 had been the victim of the theft of numerous works dating from the 8th–9th to the 16th centuries. The investigation, which also involved surveillance and technical analysis, enabled investigators to track down the two alleged perpetrators.
Several archaeological artifacts were also seized during the investigation. These include three transport amphorae from the Roman and Greco-Italic periods, dating from the 5th to the 4th century B.C., a wooden sculpture depicting a head in the style of ancient Egypt, an ushabti—that is, a funerary statuette belonging to a burial ensemble—and a marble sculpted head from the Archaic period, likely of Greco-Oriental origin. A gilded object, likely a bronze casserole, from the Pompeian area was also seized.
The recovery also included bibliographic and archival materials. Among these is a collection of ancient manuscripts related to the Monastery of San Giovanni l’Origlione in Palermo, dated between 1554 and 1655, as well as an edict of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, handwritten on the reverse side and bearing a stamp attributable to the Municipality of Avellino, dated 1835. A collection of documents was also recovered that is part of the personal correspondence of Duchess Beatrice Mantegna dell’Arenella, dating from the first half of the 20th century and relating to *Lo Studio del Cavalluccio*, a work initially attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
To verify the recovered artifacts, the Carabinieri TPC collaborated with the local Carabinieri unit, as well as with directors, archaeologists, and archivists from the Superintendence for Cultural and Environmental Heritage of Palermo and the Archival Superintendence of Sicily —the State Archives of Palermo—as well as with an archaeologist specializing in Egyptology from the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Turin and with professors from the Universities of Palermo and “Kore” in Enna. This collaboration among the institutions made it possible to ascertain the historical, artistic, and economic value of the recovered artifacts.
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| Palermo: Artworks and Archaeological Artifacts Worth 400,000 Euros Seized |
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