 La Nazione |
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(PISA, Italia, 17 July 2002) by Giuseppe Meucci TURIN- Yes, it is quite true. A marble capital of the bell tower of Pisa attributed to the school of Biduino is on sale. But not for now. It is a piece of major importance in the antiquarian gallery of Giancarlo Gallino, in via Andrea Doria in Torino, and it costs one million euro. Or, if you prefer, two billion old lire. Obviously traceable, but only so far. There is value there and there are questions of market, offers the Turinese antiquary. But how does a piece of the bell tower end up in an antiquarian gallery in Torino? Giancarlo Gallino is not very precise on the subject, perhaps for good reason. "That I have given much time", he affirms, "and I remember that I bought it in Tuscany from a friend. At first I thought it came from a church in Lucca and only in a second moment has it occurred to me the possibility of a different origin: the leaning Tower of Pisa, precisely." But from a church of Lucca to the most famous monument of the world there is so much difference, above all in economic terms if anybody begins to sell the pieces, and it is here that the first testimonies come out. One is signed by Florentine Medievalist Adriano Perani, the other by the historian of art of the School Normale Enrico Castelnuovo. And neither of the two holds any doubt. The marble capital that makes a beautiful show of itself in the Turinese gallery comes from the bell tower of Pisa and the probable dating is the beginning of the XIII century. Biduino, in short, or someone of his shop. At this point Giancarlo Gallino, who for years has tried in vain to sell the capital to the Work of the Cathedral (Giuseppe Toniolo was president, but the figure asked was then judged greedy) has publicized the two valuations and now exhibits them on a table at the side of the capital, as justification of the million euro that he intends to ask those who want to carry it home. And the buyers? "For now there are not any", explains Gallino, "or at least not any reliable ones. I do not export works of art to foreign countries illegally, be clear. And it is this that I have answered to the applications of some emissaries of Arabic collectors. The capital is on sale, but only if it stays in Italy." Gallino doesn't admit it, but this renewed interest in the capital has probably provoked him to furnish the news of the projected sale to the "Giornale dell'Arte" and anticipated the subsequent announcement in the Pisan daily. It is something that regularly happens. Then, with deliberate sense of timing, now throws the figure of one million euro and waits for reactions. Because it is not the full truth that interest in the capital for now is only from the Arabs. A certain interest has also matured in Pisa on the part of the Bank Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio which, however, would certainly have preferred that this had stayed distant from the lights of the chronicle. Certain negotiations become better if there is not the emotional push of the public opinion. And with calm and reservation it is more able to show that the million euro as a base of departure for the negotiation is a figure that does not hold up in the sky nor on the earth. And then who guarantees that after that of the Biduino capitals of the Tower there do not sprout who knows how many others? After all, historians of art know very well that, for instance, all the capitals of the third story were replaced in the eighteenth century. But where are the originals? |
