Italy Moves to Create First Nazi-Looted Art Restitution Panel

By Elena Vasquez

Italy's parliament is debating a bill that would create, for the first time, a formal process for restituting art and cultural property seized by the Nazis and Italian authorities from victims of racial persecution between 1933 and 1945.

Federico Mollicone, a lawmaker from Brothers of Italy, the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, introduced the bill in March. It would make Italy the latest European country — after Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, the UK and Switzerland — to establish its own restitution mechanism.

"Introducing this bill does not merely mean finally bringing Italy into line with the highest international standards... but means, first and foremost, fulfilling a historic duty," Mollicone, president of the culture commission in the lower house, told The Art Newspaper.

"We are not merely talking about property claims, but about restoring human dignity, memory and the fundamental principles of our constitution," he said.

The lower house's culture committee is now examining the proposal. If enacted, the government would have six months to set up the system. Mollicone predicts a smooth passage, citing "wide political consensus," and aims to pass the bill within the current legislative session, ahead of a general election due before the end of next year.

How would the panel work?

The bill grants the government powers to establish a five-member committee to examine the provenance of works confiscated, looted or sold under duress. The committee would issue decisions on restitution to original owners, their heirs or — if no living heirs are identified — the broader Jewish community in Italy. One member would be nominated by Italy's art police.

Claims could come from legitimate owners, descendants, heirs, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) or individual Jewish communities. The committee would have to rule within 180 days of a claim. Restituted works would automatically leave the public domain, lose protection under Italy's heritage code and could permanently leave the country. Existing statutes of limitations would not block restitution.

Which works are at stake?

Four publicly known disputed works currently hang in Italian museums, according to Katharina Hüls-Valenti, a provenance research expert at Parma University. The real number could be closer to dozens. "We really don't know for sure," she said. "Better research is required."

The list includes:

• Edouard Manet's Portrait de M. Arnaud à cheval (1875), sold under duress in 1935 by the family of German painter Max Liebermann and donated to Milan's Galleria d'Arte Moderna in 1958. Liebermann's heirs sought restitution but met resistance from the museum.
• Girolamo da Romano's Cristo portacroce (around 1508-09), requisitioned by France's Vichy government in 1941 from the family of Federico Gentili di Giuseppe, bought by Milan's Pinacoteca di Brera in 1998, and seized by US authorities in 2011 while on loan to a Florida museum.

Paola Zatti, a curator at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, said in a statement: "The painting was sold by Liebermann's wife in 1935 (incidentally, to a Jewish antiques dealer), but there is no evidence that she was forced to do so." The museum has agreed, with the heirs' German lawyer, to display a label explaining the work's ownership history, which Zatti said "clearly highlights the tragic moment when the work was sold by its Jewish owners."

Why has Italy lagged behind?

A 2001 enquiry led by former minister Tina Anselmi found 7,847 seizure warrants issued up to April 1945 against Jews — covering houses, land, businesses, bank deposits, insurance policies, jewellery, paintings and furniture. Italy endorsed the 1998 Washington Principles on Nazi-looted art. Yet France created its restitution commission in 1999 and the UK its Spoliation Advisory Panel in 2000.

"Italy is obviously a central country in the world of art... and yet on this issue of the Holocaust restitution it had barely scratched the surface in addressing it," said Gideon Taylor, president of the World Jewish Restitution Organisation (WJRO).

Experts cite reluctance to confront the fascist past, weak political will, poor museum cataloguing and limited provenance transparency. Italian law also treats museum works as inalienable national heritage — a barrier the bill now addresses.

What comes next?

The bill followed a WJRO-commissioned report by lawyer Lorenzo Casini, a former culture ministry chief of staff, written with six experts including Hüls-Valenti. "The law is specifically designed to bring those artworks to light," Casini said. He has proposed widening the commission's remit beyond art to manuscripts, books, archives and ceremonial objects, and securing additional funds.

"The next step could hopefully be to seek funding once the law has been passed," Casini said. Mollicone said lawmakers will "ensure" the culture ministry's funding plans include "adequate resources to support research projects on provenance, the digitisation of archives, and the training of dedicated experts," highlighting Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli's "strong commitment."

Paolo Gnignati, UCEI's head of legal affairs, called the bill's arrival in parliament significant. "They are also, fundamentally, an act of civilisation," he said of restitution rules.