Florentine authorities raided a home near Arezzo last week in a successful fi nale to the three month long operation organised to recover 20 pieces of valuable art that had been stolen over the past eight years.
The pieces that were stolen primarily from churches and private homes range from sculptures to paintings to furniture and date from 1500 to 1800.
Among the most notable pieces is an oil painting of San Carlo Borromeoand Filippo Neri, by the Lombard School that was stolen from a church in Stresa (Verbania). The total value of the stolen works is estimated to be over 500 million Euro.
Investigations led police to an undercover operation working within various Tuscan antique markets, in particular that of Arezzo.
The thieves appear to have been part of an organised operation originating in Naples, and they generally targeted works located in central and northern Italy. The police force’s special squad to protect Italy’s cultural patrimony was pleased with the results of the operation.
