THE Italian government is facing an outcry from art lovers and historians following the discovery that one of the most important archives of Renaissance documents had been sold to unidentified Russian buyers, reportedly for 150 million euros.

The collected papers of the artist, architect and writer Giorgio Vasari include his correspondence with five popes, his friend Michelangelo and the ruler of Florence, Cosimo I de' Medici. They also include Vasari's notes for his own works.Born in 1511, Vasari is regarded as the father of art history. In his Lives of the Artists, he detailed the careers of his late Renaissance contemporaries and gathered together all that was known about many of their predecessors.

Considerable mystery surrounds the sale of Vasari's papers. Giuseppe Fanfani, the mayor of Arezzo, said he had only learned of the transaction in a letter from a government official that said it had taken place on Sept 23 — days before the death of the owner of the archive, Giovanni Festari.

The letter informed him that, under the terms of a 1994 government order, he could block the sale by matching the price supposedly offered by a Russian company.

The discovery comes at an embarrassing moment, as preparations are being made to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Vasari's birth. In a statement, the government expressed doubts about the “vastness” of the sum involved, clearly implying it might have been inflated to scotch a rival offer. But it stressed that a government order 15 years ago had specified that the archives must remain in Vasari's house, which is owned by the state.

“The restriction is in place today”, agreed Arezzo's mayor. “But it could be lifted tomorrow. And it is scarcely credible that someone would pay 150 million euros to leave the archives in Arezzo.”

— The Guardian, London