(ANSA) - MILAN, JAN 28 - A 'gargoyle' from Milan Cathedral, a marble sculpture in the shape of a winged dragon that was part of spire number 6, was seized by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office after the carabinieri found, in Vallefoglia (Pesaro-Urbino), in the Marche region.
Corriere della Sera reports it today.
The ornamental frieze, in fact, weighing 250 kilos for a meter and a half in height, had detached after a bombing by the Allies in 1943, during the Second World War, which had damaged the Cathedral.
The piece was found in the possession of a gallery owner from the Marches, now "under investigation for receiving stolen goods and illegal export of cultural property", who intended to sell it at an antiques fair in Holland.
The story of the dragon is very complex, and has its roots in possessions that are legitimate at times doubtful, with the suspicion of circumvention of the rules, and has been made even more complex by a controversial succession of laws over time.
(HANDLE).