Italian family who secretly guarded $109 million Botticelli for decades to protect it from theft return it

Rebecca RommenDec 18, 2023, 02:44 IST

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A newly-returned "Madonna and Child" by Botticelli, set to undergo a year-long restoration.NAPLES CARABINIERI

An Italian family who hid a Botticelli masterpiece for generations gave the painting to the police.
One family member took the painting from a chapel in the 1960s to "protect" it from theft.

An Italian family has handed over a long-lost $109 million painting by Sandro Botticelli, "Madonna and Child," to Italian police, The Times of London reported.

In the 1960s, Enrico Somma took the 15th-century Renaissance masterpiece from a village chapel in southern Italy.He cited concerns about the lack of security. He was wary of art theft, which was common in Italian churches at the time.Peppe Di Massa, a local historian, said Pope Sixtus IV once owned the painting before selling it to the Medici family in Florence to build the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.It eventually found its way to the Santa Maria la Carità church before the Sommas furtively acquired it.The Somma family insists they were "acting as custodians" and never wanted to profit from the painting.Michele Somma is reticent about the Botticelli's last hiding place. Still, according to local rumors, the Somma family last hid it in the basement of a successful bakery business Michele owns in a village outside Naples, The Times reported.Though the removal's legality remains unclear, scholars and art authorities acknowledged the painting's relocation in the late 1960s, listing it as a protected work.The artwork, painted in tempera on wood, portrays the Madonna holding Jesus, with art historians suggesting the model was Simonetta Vespucci, known for inspiring Botticelli's female figures.Enrico protected the painting from theft, even keeping a gun by his bedside. The family rebuffed numerous offers to buy the masterpiece, hiding it after Enrico's death to discourage interest and potential theft.As rumors circulated and social media gained traction, the family grew worried and decided to confess and return the artwork.

The Sommas had kept the painting in a village outside Naples. The region is home to the criminal gangs of the Camorra, which also put the family and painting at risk.

'The Madonna was like another mother to us'

The Botticelli masterpiece is being restored at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence,.Shutterstock/vvoe

The painting was shrouded in secrecy and rife with rumors outside the household and within the family. The Sommas kept the younger generations of their family in the dark about the artwork.The family never told the youngest Sommas about the painting nor showed it to them.Nello D'Auria, the mayor of Gragnano, served as an intermediary between the Sommas and the authorities, convincing them to trust the process.The Botticelli was handed over to the carabinieri's cultural-heritage-protection unit in a covert ceremony last month.The artwork, reportedly in poor condition, is now at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence for authentication and restoration, a process expected to take a year.The Sommas will miss the artwork that was under their care for generations. "The Madonna was like another mother to us, and the child a baby that we cherished," they said, The Times reported.Despite the painting's sentimental value to the Somma family, they hope it will eventually return to the community, possibly in a museum.

"That painting has been the soul of our family, but now we want it back in the community," Fabrizio Somma said, The Times reported.

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Italian family who secretly guarded $109 million Botticelli for decades to protect it from theft return it

'The Madonna was like another mother to us'