In 1969 a special department of the Carabinieri (the Italian police) was set up to protect cultural assets. Since then, the now 280-strong team has been able to track down many works of art that had been thought lost or stolen.
See also: The FBI of the Art World
This was the case recently, when spokesmen for the Turin branch of the special unit announced that they had been able to secure a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Titian that had been missing since 2004. They owed this success to a tip that led them to a Piedmontese workshop where the painting had been taken for restoration purposes.
After Titian's Gentiluomo Con Berretto Nero (Portrait of a Man with a Beret), created around 1512 and estimated at over £5.5 million, disappeared in 2004, the trail led to Switzerland, but could not be followed up there. As Forbes reports, two Swiss nationals are now the focus of the investigation.
See also: 10 Major Art Thefts in 10 Different Years
Portrait of a Man with a Beret was returned to the Italian state on 19 May.
