More than 80 pieces of art seized from criminal organisations, including pieces by Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí, are now on display at Palazzo Reale in Milan.
The exhibition, titled “SalvArti (Save Arts): From Confiscations to Public Collections,” displays contemporary art recovered during Italian authorities’ operations against organised crime.
“These works, once hidden in organised crime networks, are finally returned to the public as symbols of resistance,” said Maria Rosaria Lagana, head of Italy’s agency managing confiscated assets. “It’s like digging up treasures and displaying them for everyone to see.”
Italian police often recover art used as currency in arms and drug trafficking. In one notable case, they retrieved two Vincent Van Gogh paintings stolen from Amsterdam in 2002. The works, worth €50 million each, were found in 2016 at a Naples property linked to a mafia boss.
Highlights and History
The collection spans the 20th century to early 2000s and features notable works, including Warhol’s “Summer Arts in the Parks”, Dalí’s lithograph of Romeo and Juliet and Giorgio de Chirico’s “Piazza d’Italia”.
The exhibition also includes artefacts seized from high-profile mafia figures, such as a boss of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia in 2016 and a dismantled money laundering network in 2013.
The exhibition, previewed in Rome last month, will remain at the Palazzo Reale in Milan until 26 January before travelling to Reggio Calabria, a stronghold of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia. There, it will be displayed until April, after which the artworks will be transferred to state museums across Italy.
Entrance to the exhibition is free. For more information and booking, visit the museum site.
