Vittorio Sgarbi, State Secretary for Culture, is suspected of having appropriated a stolen painting.
To call him a colorful figure would be the least of it; he is a full-blown eccentric: Vittorio Sgarbi, State Secretary in the Italian Ministry of Culture, whose first job is to look after Italy’s unique wealth of art treasures. It is a veritable affair that Sgarbi is now suspected of having acquired and manipulated a stolen painting. The Macerata prosecutor’s office is investigating and Sgarbi faces calls to resign. Corpus Delicti is a 17th century painting, “The Capture of Saint Peter” by Rutilio Manetti, an important painter from Siena.