In Italy, Culture Intertwines With Politics

For years, the books kept coming. A precious edition by Thomas More. Leather-bound volumes from the Italian Renaissance. Some stolen from the Baroque-era Girolamini Library in Naples, given as gifts to an influential longtime consigliere to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.Now that consigliere, Marcello Dell’Utri, a former senator, has been caught up in one of the biggest book-theft scandals in history. In a rare interview here, Mr. Dell’Utri said that he had returned all but one of the books once he learned they were stolen. He also distanced himself from the central figure in the case, Marino Massimo De Caro, the former director of the library, now on trial in Naples on charges of masterminding the large-scale theft of volumes. Yet Mr. Dell’Utri acknowledged that he had received books from Mr. De Caro for years and had helped make his career. In Italy, Culture Intertwines With Politics (Sometimes Not So Legally)