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Monday 06 July 2015

Italian library director accused of stealing works by Galileo and other books

Italian prosecutors are investigating the director of a historic library on suspicion of stealing more than 4,000 rare antiquarian books worth millions of pounds from the collection that he was in charge of.

Italian library director accused of stealing works by Galileo and other books
Books written by Galileo in the 17th century were among those stolen from the historic library in Naples Photo: ALAMY

In what is believed to be the biggest such theft for decades, Marino Massimo De Caro is accused of stealing a vast haul of rare books from the 17th century Girolamini Library in Naples, including works by Galileo Galilei, the astronomer.

They included “Sidereus Nuncius”, a treatise on astronomy which was first published in Venice in 1610, and “Le Operazioni del Compasso Geometrico e Militare,” written in 1606.

Mr De Caro, who was director of the library for less than a year, allegedly tried to cover his tracks by replacing the stolen Galileo volumes with remarkably authentic-looking facsimiles, produced to such a high quality that experts are baffled as to how he made them.

The looting of the collection was only discovered when Tomaso Montanari, an art historian from Naples’ Federico II University, visited the library by chance in March.

He was horrified to find books strewn around the floor and empty Coca-Cola cans and other rubbish littering the wood-panelled library, which holds around 150,000 books and manuscripts.

He wrote an indignant piece for Il Fatto Quotidiano (The Daily Fact), an Italian newspaper, which prompted 2,000 academics to sign a letter to Lorenzo Ornaghi, the minister for cultural heritage.

They asked why such a valuable library had been entrusted to “a man bereft of even the minimum academic qualifications or professional competence to honour the role”.

Mr De Caro was arrested in May and remanded in custody. He remains in jail while investigators dig deeper into the affair.

He is expected to be charged with theft, embezzlement and criminal association.

Since his arrest the scope of the thefts has become much broader.

He allegedly sold books either directly to collectors or on the open market in Italy and abroad.

A consignment of 450 stolen books which was due to be auctioned in Munich would have fetched more than a million euros, investigators believe.

Some of the leather-bound books that he allegedly purloined have turned up in London, New York and Tokyo.

Another stash of 240 books bearing the library’s distinctive stamp, which features a Madonna figure, was found in a lock-up in the former director’s home town of Verona.

It is also alleged that he stole valuable volumes from libraries in Verona, Padua and from the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the hilltop monastery that was the scene of bitter fighting between German and Allied forces during the Second World War.

It has also been alleged that Mr De Caro lied about his background and his qualifications.

A descendent of the Princes of Lampedusa line, has said the director’s claims of blue blood are false.

“The librarian’s assertions about his descent from the princes of Lampedusa are fabrications,” Prince Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi told Il Mattino newspaper.

He said he had graduated from Siena University and then lectured as a professor at Verona University. It has been reported that both claims are false.

Through his connections he was taken on as a “consultant” at various government ministries, including that of cultural heritage, prompting questions as to why his qualifications were not properly checked.

It is thought he was able to plunder the collection at will because the library has been closed to the public for decades.

He allegedly destroyed index cards in order to make the task of tracking the books much harder.

His alleged actions had “dismembered and mutilated the library, perhaps irreparably,” said Mr Melillo, the public prosecutor.

Four other people have been arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Mr De Caro, including Stephane Delsalle, a French lawyer and bibliophile, and Sandro Marsano, a priest who worked in the library and allegedly deactivated the alarm system so that books could be stolen with ease.

The pilfered books, many of them centuries old, covered subjects as varied as zoology, physics, mathematics and even an early study of Chinese acupuncture.

The thefts have shaken the rarefied world of antiquarian book dealers, with leaders in the field putting out warnings to colleagues to be extremely careful about buying books that might have come from the collection in Naples.

Arnoud Gerits, the head of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, put out a statement about the “massive theft”.

“It appears to be clear that the stolen books were spread out, via the trade, in several countries in both Europe and elsewhere,” Mr Gerits wrote.

“We would therefore strongly advise our members to check their purchases of — mostly — Italian books from the 15th to the 17th centuries if these volumes were purchased in the time period between January to May of 2012.”

The looting of the library is the latest scandal to erode Italians’ already battered faith in public officials. The head of a tax collection agency was recently accused of stealing more than 100 million euros of tax revenue, while politicians around the country have been accused of embezzling public money to pay for property, parties and expensive holidays.

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