Preliminary Hearing for the Case of 36 Counterfeit Picasso Works Seized in Salerno

The preliminary hearing on the case of the thirty-six works by Picasso, seized in January 2018 in Salerno by the Carabinieri of the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit and considered counterfeit by the Rome Prosecutor's Office, will be held on Monday, April 22, at the court of Rome. The only defendant is Marcello Santelia, a 77-year-old collector from Nocera Inferiore (Salerno), for whom the public prosecutor Santina Lionetti has requested the indictment, accusing him of possession of counterfeit works and receiving stolen goods. Thirty-six paintings, a number sufficient to set up a small art gallery, which Santelia (defended by lawyers Salvatore Nocera and Giuseppe Spagnuolo) has always owned, inherited from his father. The facts came to light at the end of 2017, because the Salerno collector wanted to sell a painting in Dubai, and to export it, he asked for authorization from the Ministry of Culture, which in turn requested an opinion on the genuineness of the work from the Picasso Foundation, which, however, deemed the painting a fake, with a forged signature of the great painter. Thus, the Carabinieri arrived, who found a real collection at Santelia's house, and seized it.