(ANSA) – BARI, 21 JUL – A collection of hundreds of cultural assets, consisting of archaeological finds, statues, paintings, ecclesiastical, archival and book assets, found following the death of a wealthy collector from Bari, was seized by the financiers of Bitonto with the carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bari. There are 350 ceramic archaeological finds, in terracotta and bronze, of Apulian production dating back to the III-IV century. BC, another 80 finds in glass, metal and ivory, coming from the Eastern Mediterranean and dating back to the second millennium BC, various manuscripts, numerous authentic relics dating back to the XIX century, an ancient volume of 1682 entitled “Costitutiones synodales bituntinae ecclesiae”, paintings and sculptures.
Among the works found, a wooden statue of 1300 depicting the ‘Madonna enthroned with child’, a medieval masterpiece by an unknown artist, stolen in 1977 from the Church of Sant’Egidio Abate di Cerqueto (fraction of Fano Adriano in the province of Teramo), recognized thanks to a photo present in the ‘Data Bank of Illicitly Stolen Cultural Assets’ and in confirmation of an appraisal carried out by the Superintendency of Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Bari. part of the heirs to initiate the investigations that allowed the discovery of the entire collection. The military has ascertained the illicit provenance of the seized assets and identified the legitimate owners, including several private individuals for the paintings (stolen in Rome, Genoa and Bologna), the Church for ecclesiastical assets and the State for archaeological finds. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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