Italian family who secretly guarded $109 million Botticelli for decades to protect it from theft return it

• An Italian family who hid a Botticelli masterpiece for generations handed the painting to police.
• The painting was taken from a chapel in the 1960s as one family member wanted to "protect" it from theft. 
• The $109 million "Madonna and Child" will now be restored The Times of London reported.

An Italian family has handed over a long-lost Botticelli "Madonna and Child," valued at $109 million, to Italian police, The Times of London reported.

Enrico Somma took custody of the 15th-century Renaissance masterpiece in the 1960s when he removed it from a village chapel in southern Italy.

He cited concerns about the lack of security, weary of the fact that art theft from Italian churches was common at the time.

Peppe Di Massa, a local historian, says that the painting was once owned by Pope Sixtus IV, who sold it to the Medici family in Florence to build the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.

It eventually found its way to the chapel in Santa Maria La Carita, before being furtively acquired by the Sommas.

The Somma family insists they were "acting as custodians" and never wanted to make money off it.

Michele Somma is reticent about the Botticelli's last hiding place — according to local rumors, the basement of a successful bakery business he owns in a village outside Naples, per The Times.

Although the removal's legality remains unclear, scholars and art authorities acknowledged the painting's relocation in the late 1960s, listing it as a protected work.

The artwork, painted in tempera on wood, portrays the Madonna holding Jesus, with art historians suggesting the model was Simonetta Vespucci, known for inspiring Botticelli's female figures.

Enrico, always on guard, protected the painting from theft. He even kept a gun by his bedside. The family rebuffed numerous offers to buy the masterpiece, opting instead to hide it after Enrico's death to discourage interest and potential theft.

As rumors circulated and social media emerged, the family grew worried and decided to confess and return the artwork.

The painting had been kept by the Sommas in a village outside of Naples. The region is home to the criminal gangs of the Camorra, which also put the family and painting at risk.

'The Madonna was like another mother to us'

The painting was shrouded in secrecy and rife with rumors outside the household and within the family. The younger generations of Sommas were kept in the dark about the artwork's existence.

The youngest Sommas were neither told about nor shown the painting.

Nello D'Auria, the mayor of Gragnano, served as an intermediary between the Sommas and the authorities, convincing them to trust the process.

The Botticelli was handed over to the carabinieri's cultural heritage protection unit in a covert ceremony last month.

The artwork, reportedly in poor condition, is now at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence for authentication and restoration, a process expected to take a year.

The Sommas will miss the artwork under their care for generations. "The Madonna was like another mother to us, and the child a baby that we cherished," they said via The Times.

Despite the painting's sentimental value to the Somma family, they hope it will eventually return to the community, possibly in a museum. 

"That painting has been the soul of our family, but now we want it back in the community," Fabrizio Somma said, per The Times.