Stolen from a church in Amalfi (Salerno), found after 9 years through social media in Netherlands, today an ancient wooden statue depicting the Amalfi Coast returns to the Cathedral of the Duomo "Madonna del Carmine" dating back to the 25th century. The work was stolen by unknown persons on 2014 August XNUMX from the Church of Santa Maria del Pino.
After about 9 years of research, the ancient sculpture of the Madonna was found online on the Instagram page of an account attributable to a Dutch antiques dealer. “The investigation activity, coordinated by the Salerno Public Prosecutor's Office, thanks also to the valuable cooperation of the Italian liaison magistrate at Eurojust, has allowed the Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage to Napoli, with the collaboration of the Police Department of the International Legal Assistance Centre East, to recover the ancient sculpture and finally bring it back to Amalfi”, the prosecutor writes in a note Joseph Borrelli.
The investigative activity has allowed to ascertain the illicit export of the sculpture of the “Madonna” purchased at an antiques market in Arezzo, hidden in a travel trolley and taken to Holland, in a town a few kilometers from Amsterdam. Of fundamental importance was the consultation by the Carabinieri of the “Database of illicitly stolen cultural assets” managed by the Cultural Heritage Protection Command, the largest in the world with over 1.3 million files relating to assets to be searched for. Today at 15 pm in the Cathedral of Amalfi there will be the restitution to the Amalfi parish community.
Article published on 19 December 2023 - 13:51
