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The 13 works of art from Gianni Agnelli’s legacy that allegedly disappeared from Villa Frescot and Villar Perosa in Turin, as well as from the Lawyer’s house in Rome, would all be traced and traceable, as his daughter has long claimed Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen in the ongoing case in Turin to question the succession of his father and mother Marella Caracciolo.
Those paintings, according to what emerges from a report from the Milan Financial Police to the prosecutor’s office reported by the press agencies, were donated by the grandmother to her grandchildren John, Lapo and Ginevra Elkann, the heirs she had chosen. The report comes as part of an investigation which led the investigating judge to dismiss the case of a Swiss gallery owner and his collaborator accused of receiving stolen goods and to order further investigations.
According to the report, which is based on the testimonies of two housekeepers and a third person already in the service of Marella Caracciolo, the paintings, including some Monet, Picasso, Balla and De Chirico, were in the Roman palace and then donated to John, Lapo and Ginevra to her grandmother when she was still alive. Now they would largely be kept at the Lingotto. Furthermore, from the consultations of databases, in particular those of the Ministry of Culture and the Sue platform (Export Office System), no illicit movements or restrictions emerged around the priceless paintings.
The investigations into the paintings move to Turin
Last January, the Milanese investigating judge Lidia Castellucci, partially accepting Margherita Agnelli’s opposition to the request to dismiss the investigation into the alleged disappearance of the paintings, had instructed prosecutors Cristian Barilli and deputy prosecutor Eugenio Fusco to collect Paola’s testimonies Montalto and Tiziana Russi, Marella Caracciolo’s trusted people, who took care of the inventories of the inherited assets.
The two women, interviewed by the Gdf together with a third person, reconstructed that those paintings were in the apartment in Palazzo Albertini-Carandini, of which Margherita has bare ownership, and that they were given to the three grandchildren by their grandmother. Almost all the works of art, the Guardia di Finanza has reconstructed, were found at the Lingotto during an inspection by the Fiamme Gialle, delegated by the Turin judiciary in the main investigation into the Agnelli inheritance.
One instead would be in a house in St. Moritz and a copy of it in the art gallery in Via Nizza. Instead, from the databases it was ascertained that there are no particular restrictions on the paintings and that the Monet, which was suspected to be fake, was subjected to an appraisal which confirmed its authenticity.
The reply from Margherita’s front
Sources close to Margherita clarify that «the paintings reported in the Milan proceedings (which continue) cannot have been donated, as Marella did not have ownership of them. Furthermore, no donation document has been formalized to date. However, if the rumors were confirmed there would be invalid acts and the immediate return of the works which are and remain the property of Margherita Agnelli would be requested.”
Given the results of the checks by the Guardia di Finanza, the Milanese prosecutors will coordinate with their colleagues in Turin to whom, if necessary, they will send the documents for competence. (All rights reserved)
