(ANSA) - Florence, March 10 - A 75-year-old man tried in vain to abscond with a bronze head from Florence's Novecento Museum, police said Tuesday.
Security cameras caught the culprit red-handed as he unscrewed the head - Renato Mazzacurati's 1941 Portrait of Walter Conadin - from its pedestal and placed it in his bag.
He reportedly explained he felt the head "would be better off at home with me".
The sculpture is worth 10-20,000 euros, museum sources said.
The would-be robber is no stranger to police.
He was reported last year for damaging a door in a courthouse in the town of Grosseto, and also for shooting at someone's window.
Old man tries to walk out of museum with bronze head
Tells police 'head would be better off at home with me'