The infinite mystery of Caravaggio’s masterpiece: Nativity
We know that the splendid Nativity painting measuring 268 x 197 cm with Saints Lawrence and Francis is a “Roman” canvas and not Sicilian, as was still thought in the summer of 1969 when the Rai Capolavori nascosti broadcast unveiled all its beauty to the public, including its location in the historic center of a city divided between abandonment and the full control of the Mafia.
Whether it was the “appetite for television” that sparked unhealthy fantasies or not, a few months later, on the night between the 17th and 18th of October 55 years ago, the oratory was violated while it was raining heavily outside and in the silence of a surreal Sin city, Sicily’s most important work of art disappeared. Two thugs used a knife, wrapped the painting in a carpet, and disappeared into the sound of pouring rain. The first stop was the Vernengo icehouse at Ponte Ammiraglio; then hiding places near the church of San Ciro and the properties of Mafia bosses Bontade and Badalamenti, from where – perhaps inside a fruit truck – the painting was delivered to a phantom Swiss merchant, disappearing from Italy.
For fifty years, nothing was heard until the extraordinary work of the Carabinieri’s art protection unit tightened the “circle of evil,” giving hope. Our Nativity, “beautiful as beauty,” has become case number 799, the most wanted work of art by Interpol; Caravaggio’s most famous painting is at the same time the least seen and experienced by the public. Rogatory letters following the findings of the Antimafia parliamentary commission and directed at the “Swiss paradise” have had no effect, despite the reliable information provided by the repentant Francesco Marino Mannoia and Gaetano Grado.
Natività, il mistero infinito del capolavoro di Caravaggio
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