Tycoon Gunther Kiss's secret museum on Lake Maggiore discovered, containing stolen works by Picasso, Modigliani, and Rodin.

A 16th-century Flemish altarpiece hanging on a wall was the first clue that led the Italian Carabinieri to one of the most surprising operations against illegal art trafficking in Europe , which has seen the collaboration of the Spanish Civil Guard and Eurojust. They found it in April 2023 during an undercover search of a mansion located in Lesa, on the shores of Lake Maggiore , in northern Italy. There, the German billionaire Gunther Kiss , who died shortly before, was hiding a private and completely illegal museum made up of at least 300 pieces of incalculable artistic value , according to Corriere della Sera .

The eccentric technology entrepreneur, a Swiss national who has been linked for decades to disputes between Piedmont and Switzerland, had moved his collection from his residence in Marbella to this Italian villa in 2018 after receiving a formal refusal from the Spanish Ministry of Culture to legally export it. He did so through a "trusted courier," according to the Civil Guard, using his private plane .

The alert was raised when a law firm in charge of managing his estate alerted the Italian authorities to the existence of undeclared art . The response was swift: the Carabinieri of the Turin Cultural Heritage Protection Center, led by General Francesco Gargaro, raided the property posing as armed forces officers and discovered what appeared to be a hidden art gallery. The investigation, dubbed Operation "Retablo," has led to the return to Spain of 65 works that had been exported without authorization.

A collection of stolen masters

Investigators recovered drawings by Pablo Picasso , a sculpture by Auguste Rodin , a painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger , a work attributed to Amedeo Modigliani , and several Flemish Renaissance triptychs. Along with these were tapestries, marquetry furniture, antique mirrors, and a host of art objects acquired over decades at auctions, fairs, and on private trips. According to Corriere della Sera , “Gunther Kiss kept a treasure worth hundreds of millions of euros” in his villa, which was purchased in the name of a front company shortly before his death.

The 65 works that were able to be returned to Spain were distributed between Lesa's mansion, two art galleries in Milan and Genoa, and the homes of Italian collectors who had acquired them in good faith. The altarpiece that gave the operation its name, carved in wood and dating from the 16th century, depicts the Passion of Christ and is valued at more than 350,000 euros . It was recovered during the initial raid on the villa. The rest of the collection remains under judicial protection, as there are competing claims for its ownership, including a German energy group claiming 24 million euros for patents, and former employees of the Kiss couple, who received no compensation.

Spain recovers part of its heritage

The return of the pieces was celebrated in an official ceremony at the Royal Palace. Ángeles Albert de León , Director General of Heritage and Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture, stated that "it sounds like the plot of a movie," but emphasized that this is a serious violation of cultural heritage . The investigation has also documented the use of opaque corporate structures based in Liechtenstein to protect the collection, which the Kiss family had donated to a foundation with no known heirs after dying just a week apart.

International cooperation has been key. According to General Gargaro , commander of the Carabinieri's specialized unit, "stealing works of art is stealing part of a state's identity . Our task is to protect this heritage, which is increasingly threatened by illegal trafficking, " in statements reported by the same Italian newspaper. The priority now is to locate the remaining pieces, more than twenty according to authorities' estimates, whose whereabouts remain uncertain but which could be in other European countries.

This operation is an example of how millionaires can break the law and how police cooperation can reverse it.

The Gunther Kiss case adds to a growing concern in Europe about illicit channels for the sale of stolen art . The sophistication with which this museum was concealed, the use of private planes, and the simulation of corporate legality make this operation a paradigmatic example of how millionaires can violate heritage laws and how police cooperation can reverse it.