While preparing an exhibition last summer, museums in New York and Amsterdam contacted Milan's State Archives to request the loan of an architectural drawing of the Teatro alla Scala. This was no ordinary blueprint: the plan, about one meter square and with some areas highlighted in red and yellow, is an autograph by Giuseppe Piermarini, the house's original architect, who may have traced it between 1776 and 1778.
When the document was discovered missing in August, a special task force of Italy's carabinieri (military police) called the Nucleo tutela patrimonio culturale launched an operation code-named "Teatro alla Scala." A small flood of collectibles had recently been appearing on Milan's antiquarian market, and the goal was to find the source of the treasures and to trace from there the whereabouts of the Piermarini drawing.
The results of the investigation, announced earlier this month, were startling. Thousands of pieces were found to have disappeared: parchments from the 11th century; papal bulls; official decrees bearing the signatures of Emperor Charles V, Empress Maria Theresa and Napoleon; autograph manuscripts by such Italian literary giants as Alessandro Manzoni and Gabriele D'Annunzio — a substantial slice of eight centuries of European history, as seen through documents from one of the continent's wealthiest metropolitan centers from the Middle Ages onward. Some 3,000 items from the State Archives and smaller depositories have been recovered, while 1,000 more are still reported missing, probably smuggled into private collections in Italy or abroad. (The plan of La Scala was discovered in a private home.)
Since the investigation and gathering of evidence are ongoing, public prosecutor Maria Letizia Mannella is withholding the names of the three main suspects, who are described as a professore (a civil servant employed by the provincial government of Milan in the field of cultural heritage and an esteemed scholar), the principal of a technical high school at San Donato Milanese (a neighboring township) and an antiquarian running a shop in downtown Milan. The trio have been charged not with actual theft, but rather with receiving stolen goods, which may hint at the involvement of a larger criminal organization.
The professore reportedly tried to sell some of the pieces to various
public agencies, including the Soprintendenza ai beni culturali, the
national government agency that oversees Italy's cultural heritage. He maintains
that the astounding collection seized from his home is merely the fruit of
patient research among peddlers of curiosities and antique publications, amassed
at a few euros per item. In fact, the overall market value of the
professore's magic cupboard is estimated by the
carabinieri at 2 million
euros.
