The Italian Embassy in Belgium informs that on 15 December a work of art illegally taken from Italy’s artistic heritage was returned to the Country in Brussels. The work of art is an almost 1-meter-high white Carrara marble statue of St. John the Baptist attributed to the16th Century artist Gerolamo Galizzi, a.k.a. Gerolamo di Santacroce (circa 1485–1556). The statue was stolen from the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples in 1977, when it was included in the list of stolen works of art published by the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Property.
The statue had been purchased by an art dealer in Brussels who, after coming to know of its illegal origin, spontaneously offered to return it to Italy.
The Italian Embassy thanks all those who contributed to recovering this work of art: the Judiciary of Brussels, the Belgian Police and the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Property.
