Germany Returns Four Illegally Trafficked Cultural Objects to Italy

The German Minister of State for Culture and Media, Claudia Roth, has handed over four illegally transferred cultural objects to the Italian Ambassador Armando Varricchio in Berlin that were seized in Germany:

1. A miniature parchment that is part of a 16th century missal by Ludovico da Romagnano stolen from the archives of the Episcopal Curia in Turin in 1990.
2. The painting "Orlando discovers Angelica's love for Medoro" by the artist Agostino Tassi (1578-1644) illegally removed from the collection of a private collector in Bologna and seized in Munich in 2021.
3. A manuscript by the physician, philosopher and astrologer Nostradamus from 1610, seized in Pforzheim in 2021.
4. A gold coin minted in Trier around 385 AD with the portrait of Emperor Magnus Maximus stolen from the National Archaeological Museum of Parma in 2009 and recovered in Hanover in 2021.

This excellent German-Italian cooperation represents a successful example of fighting against illicit trafficking in cultural property and facilitating returns at European and international level, within the framework of the UNESCO 1970 Convention. The ceremony took place at the Italian Embassy in Berlin and was attended by Irmgard Maria Fellner, Deputy Director General for Culture and Communication at the German Federal Foreign Office, and Brigadier General Roberto Riccardi, Head of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (Italy).