The UCO recovers in Italy more than 60 works of art illegally exported by a German couple from Marbella

The UCO has recovered 62 cultural assets illegally exported from Spain to Italy by a German couple based in Marbella. Among the artworks are an altarpiece, paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and antique furniture, whose provisional value exceeds three million euros, according to the Civil Guard. The facts were detected following the death in Italy of this couple, when they began to trace a 16th-century altarpiece.

The operation, which was carried out by the Historical Heritage Section of the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, began in June 2023 when the agents were made aware of a communication sent by the Carabinieri through Europol about a police intervention of a polychrome wood altarpiece from the early 16th century. Renaissance panels, some of them triptychs, and pieces attributed to Amadeo Modigliani, Auguste Rodin, and Brueghel were also detected.

The intervention of the altarpiece (1.99 meters high, 1.76 meters wide, and 27 centimeters deep) was carried out in a mansion located on the shores of Lake Maggiore (Lago Maggiore), in the city of Lesa (Italy). The altarpiece was moved to the Sabauda Gallery in Turin, as it offers better security and conservation conditions.

Once the investigation by the Historical Heritage Section of the UCO began, the illegal export of the altarpiece, which had been expressly denied in 2018 by the Spanish Ministry of Culture when its export was formally requested by the owners, a German couple based in Marbella, was confirmed.

Thus, the investigation focused on how the altarpiece was exported, as well as verifying if any other item could have been illegally exported. After learning that more than 90 works had been exported from Marbella to Italy using the services of a transport company not specialized in these types of objects, the images were shared with the Carabinieri.

The Italian agents confirmed that many of the works were located in the same house where the altarpiece was found, as well as in art galleries and private homes in Genoa and Milan, and others had already been sold and exported from Italy to other countries.

Works also in Germany and the United Kingdom

The investigation has been directed by the Court of Instruction number 1 of Marbella, which requested the opening of the case in Eurojust. At the request of the investigators, the court processed various European Investigation Orders directed at the judicial authorities of Italy and Germany, as well as an international letter rogatory to the United Kingdom, in order to achieve the restitution of the works under investigation that are located in those countries.

This July 3rd, a restitution ceremony of these cultural assets took place at the Sabauda Gallery in Turin, attended by the Consul General of Spain in Milan, as well as the Director General of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts of the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the Brigadier General Chief of the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard, and the Chief General of the Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Carabinieri.