Public interest, private collections and market: contradictions and dichotomies waiting for a national protection law. Valentini's collection of San Severino Marche and other cases

This contribution analyses some significant events of sale of pieces of art at the beginning of XX century in Marche Region. In the appendix, the ministerial documents referred to the historic local assets, unknown before, are presented and discussed. Moreover, six photographic images of Valentini’s collection of San Severino Marche are published for the first time, including a picture of a franciscan saint traditionally credited to Lorenzo d’Alessandro. This investigation tries to clarify the causes of the sale abroad of Lorenzo Lotto’s altar-step from the Grimaldi collection and of the the splitting of the Carradori from Recanati’s collection.