Rome, 20 April 2024 – The open case arrives in court on the authenticity of 36 paintings by Picassoworks seized in January 2018 in Salerno by the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit and deemed by the Rome Prosecutor’s Office to be counterfeit, all owned by the collector of Nocera Inferiore (Salerno) Marcello Santelia, 77 years old. And Santelia is the only defendant in the trial which opens on Monday 22 April, in court of Romewhere there will be a preliminary hearing and the public prosecutor Santina Lionetti has requested the indictment contesting the crimes of possession of counterfeit works and receiving stolen goods.
The case of Picasso’s 36 paintings
Thirty-six paintings, a sufficient number to set up a small art gallery, which Santelia (defended by lawyers Salvatore Nocera and Giuseppe Spagnuolo) has always hadinherited from his father. The facts came to light at the end of 2017, because the Salerno collector vwanted to sell a painting in Dubaiand to export it he requested authorization from the Ministry of Culture, which in turn requested an opinion regarding the authenticity of the work from the Picasso Foundation, according to which, however, the painting was a fake, with the aprocryphal signature of the great painter. So the police arrived and found a real one collection at Santelia’s houseand they seized it.
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Tags: trial authenticity Rome
