A private museum becomes a family feud

The private museum is in fact a collection of works of art held by the Torlonia family in Italy, the largest privately owned marbles and paintings in the world.

The value of its 620 marbles, the villa and its painting gallery has been estimated at nearly two billon Euros. It belonged to Prince Alessandro who had mainly moved these artifacts to the basement of his villa to collect dust. What a shame!

[Picture Credit: La Stampa]

Anyway, the fact remains that with the death of the prince, the heirs are fighting over these treasures and the matter went to court. The judge’s decision was not to disperse the goods, certainly not among the heirs, and to take into account that this is a unique Italian artistic heritage.

Most of the artifacts result from archaeological excavations made by the family on their own land but also count pieces that were “purchased” from noble families in need of cash. Prime items are, for instance, the colossal head of Apollo of Kanachos, the Athlete of Myron, the relief of Portus which was the immense port of Rome, and the sarcophagus of Hector. Experts have labeled this collection as being more important than that of the Capitoline Museum or the Vatican Museum.

Prince Carlo Torlonia would like to see these works of art exhibited together in a museum with his name while the other heirs would gladly sell it even if it were to be dispersed among interested parties in the United States. It has been confirmed that in 2016, for instance, at least thirty experts came to Rome to asses the works.

Pending to shed some light on this unhappy situation, the Italian judge has for now stopped the succession procedure.

Italy’s patrimony is at stake, of course, but after all art belongs to everybody and there should be a way to make these rare works of art available to all.