ROME, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A man has been arrested in Italy for allegedly stealing a guitar Pablo Picasso sculpted and giving it to a friend, officials said.
ANSA said the unidentified suspect was charged with fraud and released on bail. He allegedly persuaded the elderly Italian artist Giuseppe Vittorio Parisi several years ago to lend him the artwork so he could have a wood-and-glass case custom-made for the sculpture.
However, he disappeared with the piece and Parisi never heard from him again, ANSA said.
Parisi's wife reported the theft to police after Parisi died in January.
Police from Rome investigating its disappearance said they discovered the guitar at the suspect's apartment in Pomezia.
The object is now to go on permanent display at the Civic Museum of Contemporary Art in Parisi's hometown of Maccagno at the request of Parisi's wife.
ANSA said the museum recently opened a retrospective of Parisi's work.
