Leonardo painting loan stirs controversy in Italy

FLORENCE, Italy, Mar 1 (Reuters) Italy plans to lend one of Leonardo da Vinci's best known paintings to Japan this month but opponents say the long plane trip could damage the masterpiece and are threatening to block the transfer.

The Annunciation, a painting more than two metres long, is set to leave Florence's Uffizi Gallery on March 12 in a crystal case designed to keep temperature and humidity levels stable and protect the 15th century artwork from earthquakes.

The case will then be placed in a wooden box and transported by van under police escort from Florence to Rome where it will be flown to Tokyo the next day.

In Japan the painting will be displayed in a series of exhibitions celebrating da Vinci and other Italian artists.

Cristina Acidini, who heads the Polo Museale Fiorentino, which oversees Florence's museums, said conservationists had examined the painting and given the transfer a green light.

''The support structure is stable and the colours are in a good state,'' she told Reuters today.

''From a conservation point of view there was no reason for us to deny the loan,'' she added.

Acidini said an Uffizi architect and a climate technician will accompany the painting, which is insured for 100 million euros, all the way to Tokyo.

But several experts, including Uffizi director Antonio Natali, say the painting is simply too delicate and precious to be flown abroad.

''One thing is a short trip by land, and another is a long-distance flight,'' said former culture undersecretary Vittorio Sgarbi when the planned loan was announced last year.

Opponents have written to Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli asking him to stop the transfer, and some have threatened to chain themselves outside the Uffizi Gallery to prevent the masterpiece from leaving.

''This loan has been approved at the highest level, but detractors feel it is not right to keep such an important work away from home for 2-1/2 months,'' said Acidini.

The Annunciation, an early work of da Vinci's believed to have been painted between 1472 and 1475, depicts a sitting Virgin Mary being approached by an angel.

Reuters SY DB2243