The Spanish Guardia Civil, in collaboration with the Italian Carabinieri and the Spanish Ministry of Culture, has recovered 62 valuable cultural artifacts that were illegally exported from Spain to Italy. The operation, called “Altarpiece”, began after Italian authorities, through Europol, informed Spain in 2023 about the seizure of a 16th-century polychrome wooden altarpiece in a mansion by Lake Maggiore, Italy.
The illegally exported items were traced back to a German couple living in Marbella, Spain. The Spanish Ministry of Culture had denied permission to export the altarpiece in 2018, yet the couple went ahead with the shipment. Following their deaths in Italy, authorities discovered the illicit transfer of these artifacts.
Further investigation revealed that over 90 items had been moved from Marbella to Italy using a non-specialized transport company. Many were found in private homes and galleries in Genoa, Milan, and Lesa, while some had already been sold to other countries.
The Spanish authorities, through Eurojust and international legal cooperation with Italy, Germany, and the UK, are working on returning the items.
A restitution ceremony was held on July 3, 2025, at the Sabauda Gallery in Turin, attended by Spanish and Italian officials. Among the recovered works are Renaissance triptychs and pieces attributed to Modigliani, Rodin, and Brueghel. The provisional estimated value of the recovered items exceeds 3 million euros.
