translated by Giorgina Arcuri

Twenty-five years after being stolen, a wonderful twelfth-century crucifix will at long last return home, to the Cathedral of Canosa in the province of Bari. It is a very precious object made of ivory, recovered in Paris thanks to the joint work of the Paris Central Office against the trafficking of cultural goods and the Carabinieri Unit for the protection of cultural heritage. A synergic operation, which also led to the arrest of a French woman, who had been delegated to surveying the precious object, to then try and sell it, by a collector from Bologna, also incriminated for receiving stolen goods.
The twelfth-century crucifix of clearly Italian production, placed on the French market last April, drew the attention of the French authorities which, suspicious of the sale modality of the object, contacted through Interpol, the Carabinieri Unit for the protection of Italy’s cultural heritage, continuing the investigation jointly. The investigation made it possible to identify the object, also thanks to findings at the Data Bank of Cultural Property: it is an extremely important twelfth-century ivory crucifix, that had been stolen from the Cathedral of Canosa in Puglia, on the night between 9th and 10th November 1983.
The attention of the transalpine specialists had been catalyzed by the huge selling value of the item, offered for 3 million euros but actually estimated at about 6 million. The illegally exported object had been delegated to a French woman to obtain her expertise, and then try to sell it, by an Italian art expert and collector from Bologna, incriminated in state of freedom by the Carabinieri.
A rather complicated story that could reserve further surprises. “The investigation is continuing – claims lieutenant colonel Alberto De Regibus – we are following the traces that led us to the incriminated man and we do not exclude developments”. De Regibus has not admitted it, but perhaps his hope is to recover other precious objects, such as the silver bust of San Sabino and the arm of the simulacrum also stolen in the same Cathedral in the Autumn of 1983.
At last, twenty-five years after being stolen, the crucifix will go back to its place: “Within a month, due to necessary procedure times – said the colonel – the object could be back in the Cathedral, escorted by French police”. “Our colleagues from Paris – explained De Regibus – discovered that on the clandestine market of works of art there was this precious object that disappeared and reappeared in the strangest ways. They managed to get a photo but its testing did not prove it to be stolen. Given its clearly Italian making, they contacted us and from there our data bank of cultural goods played an essential role”.
Indeed, the archive contained all the details relative to the crucifix that had been stolen a long time ago and illegally exported. Once the illegal provenance of the work had been verified, the French department started the operation, while Italy opened an international letter of request to obtain its restitution.