Italian Senator Acquitted in Case Related to the Massive Girolamini Library Book Theft
- by Michael Stillman
Marcello Dell'Utri.
In an offshoot of the massive Girolamini Library theft case, former Italian Senator Marcello Dell'Utri has been acquitted of the charges leveled against him. Dell'Utri was once a powerful politician in Italy. A founder of the Forza Italia party which brought Silvio Berlusconi to power as Prime Minister, Dell'Utri had enormous influence. Berlusconi, still active in Italian politics, was eventually convicted of tax fraud, Dell'Utri a more serious charge of cooperating with the Mafia. It netted him seven years in prison. His term ended in 2019.
However, throughout this time, Dell'Utri faced a second charge, this related to the Girolamini Library theft case. In that case, the former director of the library, Massimo De Caro, was convicted of stealing thousands of books from that library. No one is quite sure how De Caro got that job, he having no qualifications for it, but one can be confident he had some connections somewhere. De Caro stole around 4,000 old and valuable books, often coming in at night and walking out with them, which he sent all over the world. Their total value is unknown but likely is tens of millions of dollars. A good number of the books made it to a German auction house where they were to be sold to unsuspecting buyers. De Caro also received a seven-year prison sentence for his efforts.
That takes us to the recently dropped case against Mr. Dell'Utri. Dell'Utri is a bibliophile, and quite a serious one at that. His collection consists of 30,000-40,000 books. He is also a friend of Massimo De Caro, the two sharing a love of books and seven-year prison sentences. They have much in common. Over the course of his library directorship, De Caro gifted Dell'Utri with 14 books, highly collectible ones taken from the Girolamini Library. This is a pittance considering the size of Dell'Utri's library, but these are the 14 that got him in hot water. He was charged with complicity with De Caro's embezzlement of books. These 14 enabled prosecutors to seize Dell'Utri's entire library.
Prosecutors believed that many more books in Dell'Utri's library had questionable origins, but he was charged with receiving these 14 as they could be traced to De Caro's thefts. They asked for another sentence of seven years in prison for Dell'Utri, this evidently being a popular prison term in Italy. Dell'Utri maintained his innocence, saying he had no knowledge of the untoward origin of the books his friend gave him. Why would gifts of 14 antiquarian books from the director of an antiquarian library cause any suspicion by a trusting friend?
After years of investigations and charges, the court ruled in Dell'Utri's favor. Its judgment was rendered on the basis “the fact does not exist.” That is an odd way of saying it, a linguistic contradiction, or perhaps something is lost in the translation. Whatever, the court did not accept the claim that Dell'Utri participated in the theft or was even aware of what happened. He was a babe in the woods.
Although found innocent, Dell'Utri feels he has been seriously punished already for the allegations. La Repubblica quoted him as saying (in translation), “I am happy that the reasons of the defense have finally been heard. This sentence restores my bibliophile soul to a large extent, but unfortunately it cannot restore that physical integrity and psychological serenity that I have lacked in many years of judicial and media accusations. This investigation really made me suffer more than prison.” He continued, "I was ill for this thing. I had to put in three stents, because this has done me more damage than the same incarceration.” His lawyers added, “We are very satisfied because we were able to demonstrate that Dell'Utri had nothing to do with the appointment of De Caro as director. The former senator was not aware of the provenance of those books donated by De Caro."
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 123. Celebrate 250 Years of Independence with Original Stars and Stripes (1790) Est. $1,400 - $1,700
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 20. Keulen's Spectacular Chart of the World Featuring California as an Island (1728) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 42. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Fantastic Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 591. Matching Set of 3 Stunning Globe Gores of Eastern Asia from Coronelli's 3.5 Foot Globe (1688) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 9. Speed's Popular World Map with Allegorical Representations of the Elements (1651) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 168. First Separate Map of Kansas & Nebraska Territories (1854) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 43. Only Macrobius Map with Britain Attached to Europe (1515) Est. $800 - $950
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 250. Rare Map of Boston and One of the Earliest Maps of the Revolutionary War (1775) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 79. Schenk's Uncommon Map Featuring Two Figurative Title Cartouches (1696) Est. $1,200 - $1,500
Old World Auctions (June 17): Lot 681. Hand-Colored Image of the Annunciation to the Shepherds (1502) Est. $800 - $950
Sotheby's Book Week 2 June - 9 July
Sotheby’s, June 25: Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations, on its 250th anniversary. $180,000 to $250,000.
Sotheby’s, June 17: Fontana, Lucio. Concetto Spaziale. 1967. Leporello en papier doré. Bel exemplaire signé. €4,000 to $€,000.
Sotheby’s, June 25: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”. $150,000 to $200,000.
Sotheby’s, June 25: Washington, George (as First President). Washington decries “an ostentatious imitation, or mimickry of Royalty” in his Presidency. $250,000 to $500,000.
Sotheby’s, June 17: Lope de Vega. Rare manuscrit autographe signé de la préface dédicatoire de "El Cardenal de Belen" (le cardinal de Bethléem), pièce composée en 1610. €40,000 to €60,000.
Leland Little, June 12: The First Illustrated Edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Leland Little, June 12: John Morton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signed Pennsylvania Land Survey.
Leland Little, June 12: The Scarce Jansson Edition of a Remarkable Early View of London.
Leland Little, June 12: Signed Limited Edition of The Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Leland Little, June 12: Faden’s Important and Scarce Map of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution.
Leland Little, June 12: William J. Tate (NC, 1869-1953), Archive of the "Original host to the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk.”
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Galileo Galilei. Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo tolemaico, e copernicano. Firenze, 1632
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Saverio Manetti. Storia naturale degli uccelli. Firenze, 1771-76
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Fortunato Depero. Depero futurista. Rovereto, 1927
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Nicolas Visscher. Atlas minor sive totius orbis terrarum contracta delineat ex conatibus. Amsterdam, circa 1649-95
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Andreas Vesalius. Anatomia. Addita nunc. Antiquorum Anatome. Venezia, 1604
Aste Bolaffi, June 17-18: Tristan Tzara and Salvador Dalì. Grains et Issues. Parigi, 1935
June 25, 2026
Doyle, June 25: Houdini's biography, boldly signed. $3,000 to $5,000.
Doyle, June 25: A volume from Abraham Lincoln's library, signed just before heading to Washington for his inauguration. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, June 25: A very early Confederate recruiting manual belonging to the chief commissary in Lee's Army. $600 to $800.
Doyle, June 25: Rare hand-colored lithographs of the life of Napoleon. $20,000 to $30,000.
Doyle, June 25: The "Holster Atlas" of the American Revolution. $5,000 to $8,000.
Doyle, June 25: Jewish ceremonies in fine hand-colored engravings. $7,000 to $10,000.
Doyle, June 25: A very rare work on Turkish military costume. $1,000 to $1,500.
June 25, 2026
Doyle, June 25: The most important illustrated work on the Mexican-American War. $10,000 to $15,000.
Doyle, June 25: The finest illustrated book on Afghanistan. $10,000 to $15,000.
Doyle, June 25: Henry Justice Ford St. George rescues the Princess from the horrible Dragon. $2,000 to $3,000.
Doyle, June 25: A rare work of Prussian Army uniforms under Frederick William II, with exquisite hand-colored engravings. $800 to $1,200.
Doyle, June 25: Lenny Bruce typed letter signed to a Village bohemian during his obscenity trials, with a manuscript note and drawing. $300 to $500.
Doyle, June 25: Schiff's scarce Shanghai Sketchbook. $300 to $500.
Doyle, June 25: The first accurate published representation of the American flag. $2,000 to $4,000.
