The Daily Telegraph - 01.08.2019

The Daily Telegraph Thursday 1 August 2019 *** 13

Florence wants Dante ‘home’ for celebration

By Nick Squires in Rome

SEVEN centuries after Dante was
exiled from Florence, the Tuscan city
wants him back – or at least what
remains of him.
The author of The Divine Comedy
was banished from Florence for
political reasons and eventually died in
Ravenna on the Adriatic coast, where
his remains are kept in a white tomb.
Now Florence is probing the possi-
bility of bringing Dante back “home”
for the 700th anniversary of his death,
to be commemorated in 2021.
Reclaiming the remains of the poet
is potentially big business – around

400,000 people visit his tomb each

year. Born into a noble family in

Florence in 1265, Dante Alighieri found

himself on the wrong side of the bloody

feud between the rival Guelph and

Ghibelline factions.

He was accused of crimes that in-

cluded fraud, extortion and perjury and

was sentenced to be burnt at the stake.

He fled into exile in 1302 and never saw

Florence again, despite making re-

peated requests to be allowed to return.

He went to Ravenna, where he wrote

much of his masterpiece, The Divine

Comedy, and died there in 1321. The

story of a pilgrim’s journey through

Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, Dante

used the epic work to satirise his

enemies and lament the bitter faction-

alism of Florentine politics. His remains

are held in a tomb next to the Basilica of

St Francis, and Florence supplies the

oil for the lamp that illuminates his

resting place, in a perpetual act of pen-

ance for having banished him.

Florence would like to have Dante

back, for a limited period rather than

permanently, but some Italians believe

the city does not deserve its long-lost

son. “Florence exiled him and when he

asked to return, they offered such hu-

miliating conditions that he was forced

to say no,” said Stefano Carrai, a

professor of Italian literature in Pisa.

French MPs

attacked by

farmers angry

at Canada deal

By David Chazan in Paris

FRENCH MPs loyal to President

Emmanuel Macron are seeking police

protection after attacks on 10 constitu-

ency offices this week, many by farmers

angry over an EU-Canada trade deal.

In an open letter published yesterday,

20 MPs from Brittany, representing Mr

Macron’s La République en Marche and

MoDem – an allied centrist party – said

their offices had been “smashed up”.

Many have ramped up security,

with measures such as installing CCTV

and checking who is outside before

admitting visitors. Some set up police

hotlines after receiving death threats.

No one was hurt in the attacks but

protesters set fire to an office with an

MP inside, during a “yellow vest” anti-

government demonstration in Perpig-

nan, southern France, last weekend.

Romain Grau, the MP, was in his office

when protesters in hoods and balaclavas

from a nearby gilets jaunes march broke

windows and tossed a burning object

inside. Mr Grau put out the flames and

escaped unharmed.

The MPs expressed shock that some

attackers gloated online, “believing so-

cial media allows any kind of spineless-

ness, cowardice or insults”. They now

fear their homes may be targeted.

Many of the attacks were blamed on

farmers furious that Mr Macron had

championed a controversial EU- Canada

trade deal, despite opposition from

unions and Left-wing parties.

Farmers fear France will be flooded

with low-cost Canadian farm produce,

bringing down prices and demand for

domestic produce.

Only a quarter of French voters were

said to support the deal. Critics accused

the president of bulldozing it through

parliament against public opinion, but

the government said the agreement had

sufficient safeguards put in place.

World news

Salvini all at sea as son rides on police jet ski

By Nick Squires in Rome

HE LOVES hobnobbing with the forces

of law and order, but Matteo Salvini

went one step further by arranging a

pleasure ride on a police jet ski for his

teenage son while on holiday in Italy.

A beach patrol officer was persuaded

by the deputy prime minister to give

his 15-year-old son a spin across the

waves in the resort of Milano Marit-

tima, where Mr Salvini is taking a break

from trying to keep the fractious ruling

coalition together.

But the stunt earned the deputy

prime minister a barrage of criticism

from political opponents, who accused

him of compromising the integrity of

the police and “embarrassing” Italy’s

law enforcement agencies.

“The Italian police have once again

been embarrassed by Salvini, a minis-

ter who is arrogant and incompetent,”

said Paola De Micheli, a member of the

centre-Left Democratic Party.

Emanuele Fiano, from the same

party, wrote on Twitter that “police

vehicles are for guaranteeing our

security, not for the entertainment of

Salvini’s family.”

Mr Salvini, who is also interior

minister and head of the hard-Right

League party, issued an apology.

“I made a mistake as a dad, no

responsibility should be ascribed to the

police,” he said.

He has been widely criticised for his

penchant for wearing police, army and

firefighter caps, jackets and sweat-

shirts, as he projects a hard-man image.

Notwithstanding the criticism, the

strategy appears to have worked: Ital-

ians have applauded his crackdown on

migrant arrivals and promise to recruit

more police, with support for the

League since last year’s general elec-

tion doubling from 17 to 34 per cent.

Alfonso Bonafede, the justice

minister, downplayed the incident,

claiming voters would not be “losing

sleep” over the pleasure ride.

British art dealer

jailed in US for

swindling £25m

out of rich clients

By Harriet Alexander in New York

A CELEBRATED British art dealer has
been jailed in the United States for
stealing up to $30 million (£25 million)
from clients by brokering sales for
them and keeping the cash for himself.
Timothy Sammons, who dealt in
high-priced pieces by Picasso and
Chagall, apologised to his victims on
Tuesday as he was sentenced to spend
between four and 12 years behind bars.
The 63-year-old, below, who was
extradited from the UK to the US in
2017, said he was “extremely sorry for
the trouble I caused people”.
He said: “It was not my intention to
cause any grief at all. This wasn’t
supposed to happen.”
Sammons pleaded guilty on July 2 to
15 counts of grand larceny and defraud-
ing at least four clients spread across
New York, London and New Zealand.
The scheme involved several famous
works of art such as Buste de Femme
by Pablo Picasso, Reverie by
Marc Chagall, and Calanque de
Canoubier (Pointe de Bamer) by
Paul Signac.
The art expert left Sotheby’s, to
start his own art advisory business
in 1995, the Manhattan court
heard.
Opening up offices
in New York and
Zurich, he acquired
a formidable client
base, including the

Bill Gates Foundation which bought

John Singer Sargent’s Cashmere

through him in 1996, for $10.7 million

(£6.7 million).

Police began investigating his

business in 2015 and found that

between 2010 and 2015, he dragged his

feet in paying several clients – instead

spending the money on personal

expenses, including first-class travel

and private club memberships.

When his customers would inquire

about the sales, he would fob them off

or else use what money he had to pay

off another victim in what prosecutors

termed “a giant Ponzi scheme”.

Sammons was declared bankrupt in

January 2017, had his passport

confiscated and his £4 million home in

Primrose Hill, north London, repos-

sessed after he defaulted on loans.

Cyrus Vance, Manhattan district

attorney, said: “When brokering the

sales of high-priced, one-of-a-kind

paintings Timothy Sammons had

lying, scamming and stealing

down to a fine art,” he said in a

statement.

Sentencing Sammons, Justice

Ann Scherzer said: “The

emotional harm and financial

harm done to the victims of

this crime is very

serious.”

Sammons is

expected to be

deported to the UK

upon his release. A deal brokered by art-dealing fraudster Timothy Sammons included Reverie by Russian-born painter Marc Chagall

London and New Zealand.

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