On July 21, 2025, the Civic Museum of Belluno officially reinstated in its collections the Renaissance panel Madonna con bambinopainted by Antonio Solario with the hinge of the 15th and 16th centuries. The ceremony was held at the Palazzo Fulcis in the presence of the mayor Oscar de Pellegrin, the curator Carlo Cavalli, representatives of the Carabinieri (specialized police) and experts involved in the case. According to Oscar de Pellegrin, “Restoring this painting is to give Belluno a fragment of his identity”.
The table had been stolen on the night of August 24 to 25, 1973 at the old address of the museum, Palazzo Dei Giuristi, during a flight aimed at six major then weakly protected pieces. The investigations of the time had only found part of the booty in Austria; Solario’s web had disappeared from international radars for more than forty years. In September 1973, she was acquired in good faith by the Baron de Dozsa and installed in her property in Norfolk, where she remained safe from the public gaze until 2017. It was only during an attempt to sell in Norwich that a Bologna historian alerted the authorities and allowed the sealing of the work by the British police.
The case highlighted the complexity of international law. The British owner, Barbara de Dozsa, invoked the ACT 1980 limitation which, in the United Kingdom, allows a buyer of good faith to be recognized by the property of the property after six years in the absence of a manifest link with the flight. Italy, for its part, defended the imprescriptibility of the right of demand for public cultural goods. The exchanges of arguments were extended until 2023, hampered by the pandemic and the post-Brexit context, delaying the judicial outcome.
The resolution intervened in an extrajudicial framework at the initiative of Christopher Marinello, lawyer and founder of Recovery International art, a structure devoted to the restitution of works of art. The latter led, on a voluntary basis, a mediation having led to the voluntary restitution of the work, without compensation, from the British holder. Marinello specifies: “When it comes to restoring stolen works, I can be annoying with persistence, but it was her decision and she chose wisely”. The Arte Generali insurance company has supported the logistics of the return (packaging, transport, security).
The Belluno Civic Museum, where the work is now preserved, celebrates this restitution on the eve of the 150th anniversary of its foundation. Madonna con bambinoacquired in 1872 and initially attributed to Giovanni Bellini, is one of the founding pieces of the Antonio Giampiccoli collection, pillar of local heritage identity.
The return was accompanied by a control of the physical conditions of the work, which made it possible to note deteriorations suffered during its detention in the United Kingdom. This panel – 86 × 67 cm format, Tempera on wood – requires interventions: reconstruction of support joints, consolidation of pictorial uprisings and cleaning of yellowing varnish have been identified as priority by restaurateurs. A first public presentation at the museum took place until July 27, 2025, before a transfer to the specialized laboratory in Venice for its catering.
