Scottish Catholic Observer

The director of the Vatican’s museums has warned Italy’s cultural heritage is ‘vanishing’ after two more people were arrested on suspicion of taking part in a ‘premeditated, organised and brutal’ sacking of Naples 16th century Girolamini Library.

Antonio Paolucci said he was ‘saddened but not surprised’ by the devastating losses at the historic institution in Naples, where thousands of rare and antique books were last year found to have disappeared. He said the alleged plundering was symptomatic of a country whose rich cultural heritage was at risk from various factors including theft and neglect.

“In the Italy of a thousand museums and libraries, our immense national heritage is vanishing and the cultural fabric of the country is coming apart,” Mr Paolucci, a former culture minister said ‘”Every looted painting or plundered library is a wound to civilisation which cannot be healed, a disaster for Italy and humanity as a whole.”

The allegations of theft from the Girolamini first surfaced last year, when a visiting art historian found the institution in disarray, with precious volumes piled haphazardly beside soft-drink cans and other rubbish.

When prosecutors started looking into reports of missing books, the former director Massimo Marino de Caro was arrested, accused of systematically plundering the library for its rare works and selling them to a network of customers in Italy and abroad.

The Vatican’s own vast libraries are currently undergoing a vast digitalisation programme, with 256 documents made available this week to all on the Vatican website, click here to access.