Italian Aristocratic family at war for world’s largest private collection of marble...

The court has blocked the expatriation of the Torlonia family’s works of art. The world’s largest private collection – worth nearly two billion euros – is at stake: 620 marbles, a villa and a painting gallery.

An Italian court has blocked the expatriation of the Torlonia Collection which experts consider
even more important than that of the Vatican Museums [Credit: La Stampa]

Not even Berlusconi had succeeded in unlocking the 620 marbles of inestimable value of Torlonia, the largest private collection in the world, which disappeared in the basement of a building in Via della Lungara where, in place of the Museum, in the 1970s, mini apartments popped up. But the death of Prince Alexander, and the fierce hereditary war that followed, has rekindled a beacon on this story and on the statues that over the years have not only been collecting dust in a cellar but have run the serious risk of “emigrating” overseas. But now, thanks to the heir of the title, Carlo Torlonia, the marbles, the picture gallery and a large part of the family heritage have been seized by the court.
A “fratricidal” hereditary war which sees Prince Charles on one side and his three siblings, Paola, Francesca and Giulio, on the other one. A huge patrimony that includes not only the art collections but also Villa Torlonia (formerly Villa Albani) that was inhabited by Benito Mussolini, and several other jaw-dropping buildings.

Heirs at war, fighting not only for an immense fortune, but also for their last name, (a piece of Italy’s history), along with the fate of works of art that are a private good yet also a good for humanity. And it probably on this line that the judge yesterday proved Carlo Torlonia right as he saw the danger of the dispersion of goods. A decision that protects not only the heir but also a large part of the Italian artistic heritage.

The Torlonia collection is the result of several archaeological excavations the aristocratic family made on their own land, yet not only. Many works were “bought” from noble families in difficulty. Among the marbles there is the colossal head of Apollo of Kanachos, but also the Athlete of Myron, the relief of Portus with the representation of buildings, ships, protective gods and commercial life of the Ancient Port of Rome, the sarcophagus of Hector. In short, a collection experts considered even more important than that of the Capitoline and Vatican Museums.

Prince Carlo Torlonia would rather not speak and simply comments as follows: “I would like these works of art to be part of a museum with my name, for example at Palazzo Giraud-Torlonia for all citizens of the world. And his lawyer, Adriana Boscagli, who made herself a name when it comes to multimillionaire hereditary divisions, explains that “the precautionary protection became necessary in consideration of some conduct of the co-heirs and the executor of the will that in our opinion could have definitively prejudiced the inheritance rights of my client”. In the appeal it is stated that Carlo Torlonia “only by chance” became aware, for example of the establishment of the Torlonia Foundation – in which neither he nor his children had any role – which had taken over the management of all the enormous collections of works of art on loan”.

“This measure, explains Boscagli, tends to prevent both acts of dispersion of movable property such as statues, but also to prevent the completion of corporate transactions”. The spy on the “danger of expatriation of works of art” would have been lit up by a meeting in the United States between the current president of Banca del Fucino and representatives of the Paul Getty Museum, from what can be read in American court documents brought to the attention of the Italian judge. Was it to talk about the statues? And from the same papers we learn that 30 art experts were sent to Rome to evaluate the works, guests at Villa Albani in 2016. Circumstances that convinced the Italian judge to stop the succession waiting for greater clarity and then proceed to the division.

Source: La Stampa [November 23, 2018]

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