Due frontals in polychrome marble, of great religious and historical-cultural value, stolen in 2013 from the church of Santa Maria of Constantinople in Greek's tower, will be returned today by the commander of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Palermo, Gianluigi Marmora, Don Joshua Lombardo, parish priest of the Pontifical Basilica of the Holy Cross of the coral city.
The restitution will take place today, Wednesday 14 June, at 19 pm. The ceremony will be attended by Imma Ascione, former director of the State Archives of Napoli, art historians Joseph Maddaloni ed Ernesto Pinto, and the commander of the Torre del Greco company of the Carabinieri, Andrea Leacche, together with other religious, military and civil authorities.
The discovery of the two altar frontals occurred in 2022 as part of an investigation coordinated by the Demand di SIRACUSA, conducted by the Carabinieri of the TPC Nucleus of Palermo and from the dependent section of SIRACUSA, concluded with a search inside a luxurious private structure in Noto, in which cultural and archaeological goods (including mosaics, situlae, heads, craters and other items) were seized, for a value of approximately 3 million euros.
The consultation of the "Database of illegally stolen cultural assets" of the Ministry of Culture, managed exclusively by the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (the largest in the world with over 1,4 million files relating to assets to be searched for), essential for certifying that the precious assets had been the object of a theft which occurred in 2013, inside the Church di Santa Maria di Constantinople di Greek's tower.
Article published on 14 June 2023 - 10:38
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