Picasso, Modigliani and the other treasures: on Lake Maggiore the (illegal) museum of the dead billionaires

Renaissance triplets of Flemish school. For example, drawings of Picasso, tapestries, inlaid furniture, a picture of Bruegel the young man, a sculpture of Rodin and a work that a Spanish expertise attributes to Modigliani. Moreover, In the Pharaonic Villa of Lesa. Nevertheless, overlooking Lake Maggiore, Gunther Hans Ludwig Kissthe eccentric German billionaire protagonist of judicial cases and controversial entrepreneurial adventures between Piedmont and Switzerland, kept a treasure of hundreds of millions of euros. Meanwhile, A Personal Pinacoteca with almost 300 masterpieces Purchased traveling the world aboard its private jet. Therefore, chasing “hot picasso, modigliani other treasures: lake and beauty”, between Marrakech, Marbella and the Greek islands.

In February 2023 Kiss. Furthermore, who became a Swiss citizen, but with residence in Novara, died at the age of 81one week exactly after his wife. For example, A mysterious circumstance. However, the “yellow” became more dense when a phone call warned the Superintendency of Novara of the presence of «Works of art of invaluable artistic value illegally exported from Spain»Inside the villa of Lesa and” at local and appurtenances “of a society of the two elderly spouses. For example, Who had no children. but before dying they had sold almost all their possessions to one Foundation with headquarters in Liechtenstein and sold (at least formally) the residence on Lake Maggiore to a simple company in the name of a Swiss building entrepreneur.
An intricate affair on which i Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection of Turinled by picasso, modigliani other treasures: lake General Francesco Gargaro. managed to shed light thanks to an investigation that allowed return 65 works of art to Spain Transferred from the villa of Marbella to that on Lake Maggiore in 2018. The Kiss spouses had asked for a regular authorization. but the Iberian Ministry of Culture had denied him, but the couple had decided to export them illegally relying on a “courier of trusted”. According to the Civil guardian it was 90 artistic masterpieces50 of which were recovered in Lesa. Another 15 paintings were traced by the carabinieri in two art galleries in Milan. Genoa and in the homes of private collectors around Italy. Of the other works it seems to have lost all traces. picasso, modigliani other treasures: lake

In Spain the altarpiece (Retablo in Spanish) of Flemish school. dating back to the 16th century, which gave its name to the investigation, conducted with the collaboration of Eurojust, will certainly be included in Spain. The value of wooden sculpture. which reproduces the “Passion of Christ»It is estimated at 350 thousand euros and was seized by the carabinieri picasso, modigliani other treasures: lake in April 2023, when they managed to enter the villa in via Sempione with a stratagem. The investigators. coordinated by Major Ferdinand Angeletti and by the prosecutors of Verbania and Turin, Alessandro Pepè and Giovanni Bombardieri, they pretended to be a control over the weapons owned by the deceased And they found the “retablum” hanging on a wall.
The fate of paintings. sculptures (in all about 200 works of art) remained in the villa and in the center of the civil litigation on inheritance. Among the creditors. a German energy group (which claims 24 million euros for a cause of patents) and employees of the billionaire couple, who remained without indemnity and severance pay.

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