Former Vatican employee arrested over foiled plan to allegedly sell Bernini manuscript
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(Credits: Royal Collection)
In a bizarre series of events, which some Hollywood screenwriter is likely documenting furiously, a former Vatican employee has been arrested as part of a sting operation after attempting to sell a priceless manuscript by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The perpetrator allegedly swiped the manuscript, which features the gold-leaf designs used by Bernini to decorate the Baldacchino canopy above the basilica’s altar, from the official archive of the Holy See. He is accused of meeting with Mauro Gambetti, on May 27th, to sell the manuscript for a seemingly low price of €120,000 (just over £100,000).
Unbeknownst to the seller, however, Gambetti is the head of administration at St Peter’s Basilica. He had reportedly teamed up with Vatican investigators and security forces, laying a cunning trap for the alleged thief. After the cheque for €120,000, and the 17th-century manuscript had been exchanged, the seller was ambushed and quickly arrested by Vatican gendarmes – the military police who preside over Vatican City.
Italian media outlets named the seller as Alfio Maria Daniele Pergolizzi, an art historian who previously worked at the Vatican between 1995 and 2011. Specially, Pergolizzi’s role pertained to the communications department of the Fabric of St. Peter’s, which houses the archives in which Bernini’s 18-page manuscript was kept.
Authorities were first tipped off to Pergolizzi’s alleged involvement in the crime after administrators from St Peter’s Basilica found that the manuscript had gone missing. Shortly after, a photocopy of the work appeared in a 2021 book which was edited by, you guessed it, Pergolizzi.
The art historian is currently being held in a Vatican prison, being questioned by local authorities. For his part, Pergolizzi claims that the manuscript had been given to him by ex-colleague Monsignor Vittorino Canciani, who died in 2014.
Alessandro Diddi, a Vatican prosecutor, is set to decide whether or not to send Pergolizzi to trial later this week. If the alleged thief does stand trial, it is likely he will stand accused of extortion, fraud and receiving stolen property, which will likely carry a heavy sentence given the nature of the alleged crime and subsequent effort to retrieve the 1633 manuscript.
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