The thief of ancient books who took 700 volumes from the library of Naples: “Yes, I stole them but I only wanted to save them from abandonment”

There are those who have romantically named it Robin Books, evoking the exploits of the thief who stole from the rich to give to the poor. There are those who have even written a book about him, entitled “Max Fox”, by Sandro Luzzatto. The truth is that Massimo Marino de Caro, 51 years old, originally from Bari but resident in Verona, former bioenergy consultant to the then Agriculture Minister Giancarlo Galan, will be remembered as the greatest thief of ancient books: in 2012 he stole around 700 from the Girolamini library in Naples , of which he had been appointed director. The Court of Naples recently imposed a sentence of 5 years and 3 months on him, which is added to the previous 7 years, of which 2 were served in prison. “They convicted me of the theft, which I never denied. But my victory is that, instead, I was acquitted for both the devastation and the looting, as well as for tearing the pages of the catalogues. Could I ever have treated what I love most in the world in that way?”, he says with conviction from house arrest in his home in Verona. And it is one of the many oddities of this incredible story, brought to light and reported 12 years ago by Tomaso Montanari.

Massimo Marino de Caro, how much money did you make with those 700 books sold?

“About 400 thousand euros”. What did you do with it? “I renovated the library, I paid for the disinfestation of woodworms and also the cataloging machines”.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​doing something like this?

“Because of the state of abandonment in which that place of culture was. 60% of the books were attacked by woodworms and insects. And no one ever did anything. I was a consultant to the Minister for Cultural Heritage of the Monti government, Lorenzo Ornaghi. Chiesi funds to the ministry, without ever receiving a response. At that point I made a very wrong choice, which I will regret for the rest of my life. I thought: won’t you give me the money? I’ll take care of it. I took the books and put them up for sale Illegal and morally unacceptable.”

This may be his truth but it is really difficult to believe it, even today, 12 years later.

“The truth is that I love old books and this love has ruined my life. I was rich and important, I worked for a multinational energy company (he was a 50% partner of his son Marco Jacopo Dell’Utri in the company Mitra Energy Consulting, ed.). To try to save a library that was in total abandonment, I did something illegal that I would no longer do today. But the accusation of devastation was the one that weighed on me the most. Not even if I were a black bloc.”

However, if he was sentenced to 12 years in total, his guilt has evidently been abundantly established.

“They accused me of destroying and tearing up the catalogues. They painted me as a monster, because I had to be the scapegoat for everything that had happened before. The consultants of the Prosecutor’s Office were employees of the ministry. But the Court of Naples was not intimidated and established that there was no devastation, looting or even the destruction of the catalogues.”

How did his life continue then?

“I am married but I have no children, above all I am one of the few Italians to have served his sentence. For stealing books I was sentenced to more than 10 years, do we realise? Before my arrival another 1,500 disappeared but no one lifted a finger.”

How do you make a living now?

“I am firm, when his sentence ends he will look for work. My wife is a public employee, for these 10 years I have lived thanks to her and my parents. Luckily my lawyers, Micol Paglia and Leo Mercurio of the Rome Bar, don’t ask me for money.”

When you return to work will you look into the world of culture?

“I’m not picky. I certainly won’t go and be a librarian somewhere (laughs)”.

Will he still use his political contacts?

“I’m done with politics and I don’t want to have anything more to do with it. Politics is one of the causes of the fury towards me. They wanted me to make false accusations against Marcello Dell’Utri.”

Nail?

“The prosecutor’s belief was that Dell’Utri had me appointed director in order to steal the books. I always said it wasn’t true, in fact he too was completely acquitted. Out of 30 hours of interrogation, 28 hours were questions about him. But I don’t trade the truth for my freedom.”