Piero Angela: “Amazed by the theft of works of art on Rai”

“It amazes me to know that they have stolen a hundred works of art inside Rai. Of course, the ‘vice’ of grabbing an artistic object presumably of great value has always existed, everywhere, both to make an illicit gain from the sale and for the the simple pleasure of exhibiting it at home or in one’s own private villa: after all, there are many museums, even prestigious ones, which exhibit works that have arrived there because they were bought by illegal hands “. This is what Piero Angela, 92 years of which about seventy spent professionally in Rai observes, commenting to AdnKronos on the news on the theft over time of about 120 art objects of the more than 1,500 artistic works hosted or exhibited in public TV offices. “Actually, since our editorial offices are located in external structures both in Viale Mazzini and in other Rai offices, I have never had the opportunity to admire these works up close – explains Piero Angela – In any case, I have never seen works in Rai of authentic value, beyond a room with tapestries. It may be that there is someone, inside or outside the Rai, who steals something at night … it can never be ruled out, unfortunately. Even if now the surveillance is very more rigid and the controls are much more effective than in the past “. Outside the ‘Rai planet’, Piero Angela tells a curious anecdote:” When we created a virtual reality set up at the Roman Forum, reviving the environments and atmospheres of ancient Rome, to remember the discovery on the spot by the workers of some archaeological finds, now exhibited at the Mercati Traianei, we had a three-dimensional plastic copy made of the original in marble that appeared in the photos of the time, the fra mmento of a pediment, about one meter by thirty centimeters large. We placed it where it was found decades ago, someone saw it, came back at night and stole it, not reflecting on the fact that if it had been authentic it could not have weighed so little: the theft has translated into a mockery for the thief, whether he wanted to sell it or exhibit it as an art object at home … “. (by Enzo Bonaiuto)