‘Not Your Typical Theft-to-Order’: Art Worth €4m Stolen in All-Night Heist

An Italian fuel distribution company recently became the unlikely scene of a significant art heist, after thieves targeted the headquarters of Lilli Petroli in L’Aquila, the capital city of the Abruzzo region, in an audacious overnight burglary, making off with works estimated to be worth in excess of €4 million.

On 28 July, according to a local news outlet Il Centro, some 30 works of art, including paintings and sculptures, were stolen. Among them were reportedly several bas-reliefs attributed to Pablo Picasso and a bronze sculpture of a ballerina made by 20th-century sculptor Giacomo Manzù weighing more than one tonne. The works belong to the owner of Lilli Petroli, businessman Mauro Lilli, who displayed his collection in the building’s lobby and various offices. 

According to local media reports, a group of 10 people carried out the theft, using one of the company’s own trucks to ram down the building’s entrance gate before spending eight hours on the premises.

According to the Italian daily broadsheet Il Messaggero, works taken include paintings by Bruno d’Arcevia, a key protagonist of the New Italian Manner movement, which saw contemporary painters reimagine 16th-century Mannerism, and works by sculptor Mario Moretto, who is best known for creating bronze busts of Italian politicians and rearing horses. The works were reportedly not insured.

“They made a mess,” Lilli told the outlet, explaining that the thieves also destroyed furnishings and damaged the floors. “They didn’t spare anything.”

The theft is being investigated by the local police as well as the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit (TPC)—a unit specialising in investigating crimes against artistic and cultural heritage. A spokesperson for the L’Aquila branch of the unit told Ocula they could not share information regarding ongoing investigations, as did a representative for Lilli’s company. 

Due to the coordinated nature of the heist, early reports have speculated that the art could have been the subject of a targeted gang theft, and could be headed for underground trafficking networks. However, art theft expert Christopher Marinello believes this is an unlikely hypothesis.

“It’s not your typical theft-to-order,” the founder of Art Recovery International, who has more than 40 years of experience tracking down stolen art, told Ocula. 

He pointed to the low value of the haul relative to the organisation involved, which would make for a small pay off compared to targeting somewhere like a museum. “These are not top-tier works of art,” he said, adding that stolen art travels for much less than its true monetary value.

“It appears to me as some sort of revenge, more of an attack on the company or Mauro Lilli himself,” the expert suggested. “In the organised crime world when someone feels disrespected or is looking to take revenge, they go after the family or something that is important to them, and Mauro Lilli takes great pride in his art collection, and so it could be a way to send a message.”

Whatever the motive, Marinello expressed confidence in the Italian authorities. “The carabinieri are on it and if those works do leave Italy, the TPC has cast a very wide net and they have contacts everywhere,” he said.