Vasari's papers 'not leaving Italy'
Legal clause binds archives to Arezzo museum, Alfano says
26 October, 18:00
(ANSA) - Rome, October 26 - It his highly unlikely that the
archives of 16th century art biographer Giorgio Vasari would
ever leave Italy even if they were sold, Italian Justice
Minister Angelino Alfano said Monday.
Following news last week that a Russian holding company had bought the archives for 150 million euros, Alfano reiterated that a special legal legal provision ''binds'' the archives to Vasari's historic home, now a museum, in the Tuscan city of Arezzo.
''I really don't think it will ever be possible to move them,'' Alfano said, adding the government was keeping its eye on the operation.
This weekend, government spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti said he would ask Culture Minister Sandro Bondi to stop the sale of the art chronicler's notes, which include correspondence with Michelangelo, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici as well as a number of popes.
The archive is owned by the descendants of the late Count Giovanni Festari, who arranged the sale, just days before his death to Ross Engineering, a Russian firm.
According to Festari's family, its prospective buyers are ''fully aware'' of the culture ministry statute requiring the archives to remain in Arezzo.
But, the city's mayor Giuseppe Fanfani has urged the culture ministry to invoke its right to buy the documents, insisting that ''the government can find the money if it wants to''.
Culture Ministry spokesperson Giuseppe Proietti, however, balked at the idea saying ''150 million euros is a preposterous sum of money well above the archives' market value''.
Milan's former culture chief and prominent art critic Vittorio Sgarbi also said he thought the offer was inflated.
''They are worth 10 to 15 million euros, not 150 million,'' said Sgarbi who said he has ''handled the archives and knows them well''.
The art critic said that even a painting by Caravaggio, were one put up for auction, would be unlikely to fetch that much money.
''This is a put-on,'' concluded the art critic, who suspects together with some officials that the offer is an attempt to lure the state into paying a huge sum of money in order to beat a fictitious move to buy it.
Last week, Rome prosecutors announced they were investigating the archives' sale to determine if it was legitimate.
Should the sale go through, Fanfani has threatened to call off festivities planned for the 500th anniversary of Vasari's birth in 2011.
A mannerist painter and architect, Vasari is probably best known for his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, a series of biographies about the lives and times of Italy's most famous Renaissance artists.
Photo: Vasari's home in Arezzo
Following news last week that a Russian holding company had bought the archives for 150 million euros, Alfano reiterated that a special legal legal provision ''binds'' the archives to Vasari's historic home, now a museum, in the Tuscan city of Arezzo.
''I really don't think it will ever be possible to move them,'' Alfano said, adding the government was keeping its eye on the operation.
This weekend, government spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti said he would ask Culture Minister Sandro Bondi to stop the sale of the art chronicler's notes, which include correspondence with Michelangelo, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici as well as a number of popes.
The archive is owned by the descendants of the late Count Giovanni Festari, who arranged the sale, just days before his death to Ross Engineering, a Russian firm.
According to Festari's family, its prospective buyers are ''fully aware'' of the culture ministry statute requiring the archives to remain in Arezzo.
But, the city's mayor Giuseppe Fanfani has urged the culture ministry to invoke its right to buy the documents, insisting that ''the government can find the money if it wants to''.
Culture Ministry spokesperson Giuseppe Proietti, however, balked at the idea saying ''150 million euros is a preposterous sum of money well above the archives' market value''.
Milan's former culture chief and prominent art critic Vittorio Sgarbi also said he thought the offer was inflated.
''They are worth 10 to 15 million euros, not 150 million,'' said Sgarbi who said he has ''handled the archives and knows them well''.
The art critic said that even a painting by Caravaggio, were one put up for auction, would be unlikely to fetch that much money.
''This is a put-on,'' concluded the art critic, who suspects together with some officials that the offer is an attempt to lure the state into paying a huge sum of money in order to beat a fictitious move to buy it.
Last week, Rome prosecutors announced they were investigating the archives' sale to determine if it was legitimate.
Should the sale go through, Fanfani has threatened to call off festivities planned for the 500th anniversary of Vasari's birth in 2011.
A mannerist painter and architect, Vasari is probably best known for his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, a series of biographies about the lives and times of Italy's most famous Renaissance artists.
Photo: Vasari's home in Arezzo
