The Cellini Perseus, the Colossus of Barletta, the Catania Elephant: have you ever wondered why these statues haven’t been stolen? Well, it turns out that it isn’t easy to steal a statue in Italy without being noticed, as two would-be thieves in Rome found out on Thursday.
The unlucky pair, a 49-year-old Rumanian and a 47-year-old man from Rome, both unemployed previous offenders, decided that they could improve their lives by “liberating” a bronze statue of St Francis from a fountain it adorned in a park on Rome’s via del Serafico.
Using housebreaking equipment, they managed to prise the statue, weighing 70-80 kilos and 1 m.60 long, from the fountain and carry it to their van. But just as they were trying to lift their unwieldy plunder into their vehicle, they were apprehended by a Carabinieri patrol and are now awaiting trial.
The statue was temporarily taken into custody too but will be handed over to officials of the Comune di Roma who will gently restore the traumatised saint to his rightful position..
