In difesa dell’arte. La protezione del patrimonio artistico delle Marche e dell’Umbria durante la seconda guerra mondiale

Through an exploration of previously unpublished documents, this volume reconstructs the protection of the artistic heritage of Umbria and Le Marche during the Second World War. The first of three sections analyzes the national and international context in which guidelines were developed for protective measures in the event of armed conflict. Patrizia Dragoni, through “Mouseion,” an official publication of the Office International des Musees, examines how members of the League of Nations first discussed this issue in the early 1930s, and, in 1939 after the Spanish Civil War, prepared and published a manual. Carmen Vitale looks at the case of Italy, where supervisory authorities were formed to plan the protection and classification of works of art based on relevance and secure them in previously identified safe-places, away from military targets and, ideally, in unexpected locations. The second section explores the supervisory authorities working in Le Marche and Umbria. Caterina Paparello meticulously analyzes their activities in Le Marche, from precautionary safety plans to measures taken to protect the region’s artistic heritage. Her contribution also describes the work of interregional recovery organizations in Le Marche, through an examination of previously unpublished documents about Pasquale Rotondi, relating to the organization, timing, and actual composition of the artistic and cultural objects brought to safety in Sassocorvaro and Carpegna. Next, Serena Brunelli writes about the Zara territory, then under the aegis of the Le Marche regional protection bureaus. Patrizia Dragoni discusses Achille Bertini Calosso who, in addition to most of the Umbrian heritage items, recovered numerous items for Lombardy from remote areas of Umbria and, after the armistice, from the neutral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, which by agreement had become Vatican property. The third section begins with a description of the role played by Kunstschutz (art protection) as well as the Monuments and Fine Arts & Archives Commission. Susanne Adina Meyer and Andrea Paolini contribute essays on the Kunstschutz. The first, through examination of the German literature—little known in Italy—analyzes the work of German officers collaborating with protection bureaus before and after September 8, 1943. Similarly, Andrea Paolini examines the case of Le Marche, and, while acknowledging some criminal incidents, tempers the cliché of German looters, discussing the “protection of the Reich” for works they knew had been protected. Next, Ilaria Dagnini Brey writes about the Monuments and Fine Arts & Archives Commission, describing the creation and training of members working in Italy. Caterina Paparello and Ruggero Ranieri then describe various steps taken in Le Marche and Umbria to safeguard their cultural and artistic heritage, even seeking to repatriate stolen items, as with some paintings from the city of Perugia, from the collection of the Dutch art historian Raimond Van Marle, taken in June 1944 by retreating German troops. In addition to documenting the story of this collection’s theft—reconstructed here for the first time—Maria Cecilia Mazzi also sheds light on the critic’s relationship to the antique market, to elucidate the history of Italian artistic heritage conservation in the 1930s. Patrizia Dragoni also examines new evidence relating to the theft of a Cavalier d'Arpino painting owned by the National Gallery of Umbria, and attributes the theft not to the Germans, as previously thought, but rather to the Allies. Finally, Carmen Vitale documents consistent efforts, by the 1954 Hague Convention and the very recent creation of the United Nations Peacekeepers for culture, to safeguard an artistic and cultural heritage constantly under threat.