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Gubbio, after 45 years the Carabinieri TPC return a very precious 400th century painting

The accurate investigation activity was developed by the Carabinieri of the TPC Nucleus after becoming aware of the possession of the precious fifteenth-century painting, originating from the theft committed during the night between 18 and 19 March 1979.

Gubbio (Perugia), after 45 years the Carabinieri TPC return a very precious 400th century painting

On December 11, 2024, at 11:30 a.m., in the Arengo Hall of the Civic Museum of Palazzo dei Consoli in Gubbio (PG), located in Piazza Grande, the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection returned to the Mayor of Gubbio the tempera painting on wood, dated second half of the 1444th century, depicting “Madonna with Child and Saint John the Baptist”, known as “Madonna del Melograno”, attributed to the pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino (1499 – XNUMX).

The ceremony took place in the presence of the Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Culture, the Bishop of Gubbio and Città di Castello, the Commander of the Carabinieri TPC Group of Monza, the Commander of the Carabinieri TPC Nucleus of Bologna, the International Commander of the TPC Nucleus of Perugia, the Director of the culture sector of the Umbria Region, the Director of the Museums of Umbria, the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Gubbio and the Director of the School of Specialization in Historical and Artistic Heritage.

The accurate investigation activity was developed by the Carabinieri of the TPC Nucleus of Bologna after having learned, during independent investigations, of the possession of the precious fifteenth-century painting, originating from the theft committed during the night between 18 and 19 March 1979., by unknown criminals inside the Gubbio Municipal Art Gallery in the Palazzo dei Consoli. The criminals, under cover of darkness and with the help of a mountaineering rope, lowered themselves for about thirty meters from one of the highest windows of the Gubbio Art Gallery, taking away the very precious work of art depicting the well-known “Madonna del Melograno”.

Gubbio, dopo 45 anni i Carabinieri TPC restituiscono una preziosissima tavola del '400

From the daring acrobatic theft until today, the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage has carried out an incessant research activity aimed at tracing the valuable work of art, initially linked to the school of Filippo Lippi and then attributed to his follower Pier Francesco Fiorentino who for the colors, the design and the expression of the faces is considered of inestimable artistic value. In these years, The Carabinieri of the TPC have released the news of the disappearance of the painting in order to track it down and deliver it to its place of origin. Over time, the tempera painting has been sought by the Carabinieri TPC assiduously and continuously, even beyond national borders, also making use of the dissemination of information in the national mass media and television programs, such as "Maurizio Costanzo Show" and "Chi L'ha Visto?".
Thanks to the prolonged research and dissemination work carried out over the years by the Carabinieri TPC, the current owner, unaware of the real importance of the work, as soon as he had the painting available, placing his trust in the institution, contacted the TPC Nucleus of Bologna in order to obtain more information on the artefact in his possession.
The photographic effigy of the stolen work had been inserted at the time of the theft in the "Database of illegally stolen cultural assets" managed by the TPC Command and in the Bulletin of the searches for stolen works of art no. 9 of 1982, and, precisely from the preliminary investigations conducted, the TPC Carabinieri were able to detect that the photo of the cultural asset presented notable analogies with the one stolen in 1979 from the Gubbio Art Gallery.

The painting, depicting “Madonna del Melograno”, measuring 65 x 44 cm, was recovered by the TPC Nucleus of Bologna in October 2024. A recovery that required careful and delicate judicial police activity, dictated by the notable and prestigious value of the work of art, in identifying and searching for those unrepeatable elements, the so-called “fingerprints of the work”, in order to ascertain with certainty that the panel was precisely the one removed in 1979.
Immediately after the events, the TPC military, having obtained the news, took steps to acquire from the Civic Art Gallery of Gubbio a high-resolution photographic effigy depicting the work of art before the criminal event. This activity, first of all, allowed them to highlight 14 unrepeatable details, such as paint losses, woodworm holes or damage localized on the pictorial surface of the stolen work of art which, compared on the cultural asset being reported, allowed them to find out how the latter was identical, in every part, with the painting of the “Madonna del Melograno”, the compendium of the theft and the object of research.

Gubbio, dopo 45 anni i Carabinieri TPC restituiscono una preziosissima tavola del '400

The investigation, thus continued with an accurate and careful comparison between the image of the stolen painting and the direct vision of the work of art owned in good faith by the applicant, allowed us to ascertain with absolute certainty that the tempera panel was indeed the one stolen from the Eugubine Art Gallery, as it presented the exact correspondence as well as the precise location of all the unrepeatable points of the stolen work of art.

The following were ultimately important for the success of the affair:

  • the investigative findings which allowed us to ascertain how the stolen table had been hidden and kept, for some time, in an underground warehouse in the city of Imola (BO), and then found during a clearance on a shelf and subsequently given – a few days before the seizure carried out on the initiative of the Carabinieri TPC – to the owner believed to be in good faith;
  • The autopsy conducted by officials of the Pinacoteca del Comune di Gubbio, who after a careful examination of the panel, recognized it without any doubt as the work of art stolen during the night between 18 and 19 March 1979 to the detriment of the Municipality of Gubbio and at the same time identified a further unrepeatable element, namely two nail holes located on the frame at the bottom left which originally secured the plate with the inventory number of the owner body.

At the conclusion of the investigations conducted by the Carabinieri dell'Arte, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Bologna, who coordinated and directed the investigative activities, ordered the return of the valuable fifteenth-century panel to the Civic Museum of the Municipality of Gubbio (PG), owner of the work, allowing it to be returned to the Eugubine community and therefore to the entire community, thus celebrating the return of the stolen painting as a double gift to the community: a symbol of Christian faith, which is renewed in the wake of the celebration of the Immaculate Conception, and at the same time a reminder of the bond with nature and its lights, which lights up together with the largest Christmas tree in the world.

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