The virgin knows

Christine Palamidessi Moore

In Rome,on May 12,1972, crazy Lazlo Toth climbed over a guardrail onto Michelangelo’s Pietà and battered a hammer at the statue. “I am Jesus Christ!” he shouted. Carlo Barzini, a merchant from Boston’s North End, happened to be there. He snapped a picture, picked up a fragment of the statue’s nose, and sneaked out of the chapel. His actions set off an art theft escapade that connected Boston’s prestigious museums to the Vatican’s coffers.