Stanley Tucci is set to star alongside Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus) and Victor Belmondo (Bardot), in Masterplan, an international heist movie directed by Thomas Vincent (Reacher).

Tucci, who just wrapped filming The Devil Wears Prada 2, stars in Masterplan as a seasoned thief who sets his sights on the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting that resides at the Louvre in Paris.

Set to shoot in France and Italy, the fictional film taps into the appeal around the increasingly popular heist genre.

However, many aren’t aware that the Mona Lisa, in 1911, actually did vanish from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former Louvre worker who slipped into the museum unnoticed by dressing as an employee.

Peruggia covered the painting and fooled a laborer into unlocking a door that allowed his escape. There were scores of interrogations, an ocean liner was halted and searched, even artist Pablo Picasso was questioned in what was later deemed the greatest theft of the 20th century.

Peruggia, who helped craft the Mona Lisa’s protective glass casing, was arrested in 1913, and the painting was found stowed away in his Paris apartment.

Actor and Filmmaker Stanley Tucci: 2025 RBIAFF ‘Renaissance Award’ Winner 

The caper made headlines across the world, and forever reshaped the provenance of da Vinci’s masterpiece.

The newfound worldwide popularity of the artwork surged and has never waned; it’s viewed 10.2 million times per year by visitors to the Louvre.

(Some of those visitors included environmental protesters, who, in 2024, threw soup at the glass-protected Mona Lisa, calling for the right to healthy and sustainable food.)

As fate would have it, the Louvre was robbed today.

The heist unfolded around 9:30 a.m., when thieves used a truck’s lift — the kind used to hoist furniture into Paris apartments — to break into the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon.

Inside the gilded hall, which houses France’s crown jewels, including The Regent, The Sancy, and The Hortensia, the thieves smashed two display cases, grabbed gems and fled on motor scooters.

The entire operation lasted just seven minutes, and the loss is “incalculable” according to authorities.

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Officials estimate the network could have inflicted economic damage of up to 200 million euros ($212 million) by flooding the art market with fraudulent works. Italy’s culture ministry revealed on Monday that coordinated operations in Italy, France, Spain and Belgium led to the seizure of 2,100 counterfeit artworks.

The fakes spanned a wide range of iconic artists, including Amedeo Modigliani, Joan Mirò, Francis Bacon, Wassily Kandinsky, Henry Moore and Gustav Klimt.  Fake Warhols and Banksys were among the most commonly forged works, with some counterfeits exhibited at shows in Mestre and Cortona, Italy.

Authorities reported that even exhibition catalogues were published to legitimize the fraudulent pieces.

This operation highlights the ongoing challenges in safeguarding the art market from counterfeits while underscoring the necessity of international collaboration in combating art forgery.

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The artifacts trickled into U.S. museums, galleries and private collections through illegal excavations and looting.

Coins, mosaics, manuscripts, and statues dating from the 9th century BC through 100 AD have been returned, as well as several oil paintings from the 16th to 19th centuries.

A Naxos silver coin from the 4th century, which features the face of Dionysius, was stolen from an excavation site in Sicily, before being sold in the UK for $500,000 a decade ago. The coveted silver coin was tracked down in New York last year.

Italy’s Culture Ministry and the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage stated that many of the items could be connected with well-documented art thefts and “tombaroli,” or tomb raids.

Antique dealers often forged provenance records in order to sell the art and artifacts to auction houses and private buyers.

The return of the stolen art was handled by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in Manhattan’s district attorney’s office.

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(Photo license: 1 and 2)

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Michael Rosella, a member of the St. Jude Lodge of the ISDA, published a monograph of his photographic works entitled Pittsburgh Streets 1950s. The book was released in November with a book signing event at the Heinz History Center, which is part of the Smithsonian. The center’s Italian American Program sponsored the event as an evening in conversation with Michael. More than 200 people attended as a great show of support for Michael, who celebrated his 90^th birthday in November. Melissa Marinaro, Director of the Italian American Program, coordinated the night as the emcee.

Mark Silverman, professor emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, introduced Michael by recapping a history of the decade of the 1950s to set the background for Michael’s photos. Highlights of the era included the Korean War, the baby boom, nuclear testing, the Civil Rights Movement, the Red Scare, McCarthyism and Sputnik, which kicked off the space race — all while television was in its infancy.

Pittsburgh during the 1950s was prosperous as the steel mills boomed, providing 60% of global production. In 1952 the polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, was unveiled at the University of Pittsburgh, and the sprawling Pittsburgh airport was opened to the public. Michael grew up in Brushton, near the Oakland section of the city where sports reigned supreme in the ‘50s at Forbes Field, Pitt Stadium and Duquesne Gardens. Oakland was also an educational hub in Pittsburgh, home to numerous universities. While studying at Pitt, Michael was influenced by street photography. His photographs in the book bring the ‘50s to life.

Linda Benedict-Jones, the former curator of photography at the Carnegie Museum of Art, facilitated a conversation with Michael. Linda describes Pittsburgh Streets 1950s as “The substantial selection of photographs that comprise this book provide insight not only into the way people acted and interacted, not just which carnival or parade they attended, what clothes they wore or cars they drove, but perhaps most importantly into what a young photographer found worthy of examination in a portion of his city, the city of Pittsburgh, halfway through the twentieth century.”

After the discussions, Michael autographed copies of his book. He was also presented with a plaque by Dr. Cindy Schuler, who recognized him for his many years of service as a dental photographer.

If you’re interested in purchasing Michael’s book, you can check it out here.

Michael graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1951 and began undergraduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1957, he received a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Dentistry. From 1957 to 1959, Michael served as Lieutenant Senior Grade in the U.S. Navy Dental Corps at a submarine base in New London, Conn. He began his private practice of general dentistry in 1959 and concurrently from 1961 to 1966, he was an instructor of Fixed Prosthodontics and Human Anatomy at Pitt’s School of Dentistry. He achieved the status of Master in the Academy of General Dentistry and is a Fellow in the International College of Dentists.

After retiring from 36 years as a general dentist, he volunteered his photographic services in the Department of Visual Communication at Saint Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh.

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Hope Carrasquilla, the former principal of a Florida school embroiled in controversy over a sixth-grade lesson on Michelangelo’s “David,” was forced out of her job last week.

In response, Dario Nardella — the mayor of Florence, Italy (where the sculpture is located) — took to Twitter on Sunday to personally invite Carrasquilla to the “City of Lilies.”

Mayor Nardella, via the social media platform, said he wanted to give the ousted educator “recognition on behalf of the city,” adding that “art is civilization and whoever teaches it deserves respect.”

The move comes after Carrasquilla resigned from her position at Tallahassee Classical School following complaints over a lesson that featured Michelangelo’s famous nude sculpture of the biblical figure David.

Although the former principal told a local media outlet that one parent had complained the lesson was “pornographic,” the school insists she was reprimanded for failing to follow procedure — alongside other unspecified disagreements — and not because the 500-year-old statue itself was considered indecent, CNN reports.

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It’s no lie, “The Adventures of Pinocchio” — written by Italian author Carlo Collodi in 1883 and later adapted to film by Walt Disney — is one of the most iconic tales in children’s literature, and IAMLA has managed to channel the story’s magic and light-hearted morality into the new exhibit.

The Italian language version, “Le Avventure di Pinocchio,” is one of the rarest items on display, as it’s one of only six copies of the original book that remain.

There’s a menagerie of puppets, framed sketches, costumes and a collection of translations, from Vietnamese to Arabic, that show the profound global reach of this book (which has been told in more than 260 languages, a number exceeded only by the Bible).

“What I think is fascinating is that each of these places makes Pinocchio theirs, He’s adapted to suit their audience,” said Marianna Gatto, an ISDA member and the executive director of IAMLA.

The exhibit opened this past November and will run through Oct. 15, 2023.

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The exhibition will include the newly-restored original Bandini Pietà, from Florence’s cathedral museum, along with the casts of the Pietà in St Peter’s and the Rondanini Pietà from the Vatican Museums, reports RAI News.

The three works will be displayed as part of the Mediterranean, Frontier of Peace 2022 event. Pope Francis, along with other religious and civic leaders, will attend the Feb. 27 meeting to discuss issues impacting the Mediterranean region.

The most famous Pietà work (seen above) depicts Mary clutching on to Jesus’s body after the Crucifixion. The piece was commissioned for the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, who was the French ambassador in Rome.

The sculpture, in Carrara marble, was made for the cardinal’s funeral monument, but was moved in the 18th century to its current location in St. Peter’s Basilica.

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The Chinese embassy issued a letter with veiled economic threats, noting Italy’s trade with China, in an attempt to prevent the opening of the artist’s first solo exhibit, which takes aim at China’s controversial policies and human rights record.

Badiucao (a pseudonym) was close to opening a solo exhibit in Hong Kong in 2018, but it was canceled due to political pressure.

The artist has spent years hiding his identity to protect his family, he said.

Inaugurata oggi a #Brescia la mostra di @badiucao #museosantagiulia #lacinaénonévicina @ComuneBs @BresciaMusei @aiweiwei_art pic.twitter.com/3fzxzP8HsW

— Laura Castelletti (@LauCastelletti) November 12, 2021

The works include oil paintings, installations and performance art. One piece reflects a scandal involving tainted baby formula exported by China in 2018, another examines the Tiananmen Square massacre and a third piece explores Hong Kong’s pro-Democracy movement that was eventually stamped out by the Chinese government.

The exhibit runs until Feb. 13 at Brescia’s Museum of Santa Giulia.

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Italian artist Salvatore Garau recently sold a piece of abstract art that exists only in the viewer’s imagination, which is to say: it doesn’t exist at all — or does it?

There are apparently no easy answers when it comes to examining the artwork, titled lo Sono (which translates to “I am”), in part because the existential questions it raises may feel more like a gimmick and less like a revelation.

Either way, the concept is generating plenty of headlines and conversation, so in essence has Garau accomplished his goal?

Here’s the artist’s take:

“The vacuum is nothing more than a space full of energy, and even if we empty it and there is nothing left, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, that nothing has a weight,” he told the Spanish news outlet Diario AS. “Therefore, it has energy that is condensed and transformed into particles, that is, into us.”

Take a “look” at lo Sono here:

What do you see?

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